Saucy Sisters Guide to Wine by Sara Hume

What every girl should know before she

Barbara Nowak & Beverly Pittman

To Peter Wall, a man we never met – but without whom we wouldn’t be unscrewing today.

Copyright ©2011 by Barbara Wichman Nowak and Beverly Wichman Pittman All rights reserved. Published in the United States by The Saucy Sisters Publishing Division. For ordering information: 615-807-1743 Visit our website at www.SaucySisters.com ISBN: 978-0-9658399-2-1

Cover Design by tattoo-creative.com Book Design by Whitney Campbell & Co.

Let’s do the Twist 7 Top Reasons We Love Screwtop Wines No performance anxiety with unscrewing. We can store them standing up. No need to pack a corkscrew that ends up being confiscated by the TSA. A swig here, a swig there…they put spontaneity into wine drinking. Don’t need a strainer on standby in case we mangle the cork. We can lay half-empty bottles down in the fridge without their leaking. Surreptitious imbibing.

Look for these icons throughout the book for tips, answers, and simply good advice from the Saucy Sisters. Screw Tip

Screw Tips = Savvy Wine Advice

Screw U. = Higher Wine Education

Unscrewy Questions = We’ve Got Answers

Contents The Way We Wine…An Introduction

1. What’s Your Wine Sense…Tasting & Talking About Wine...................................1

6. Grape Deals…Shopping On Foot & Online......................................................41

Becoming Friends…Through Wine Following Each Other Around The Country On The Radio The Grapemobile Becoming Unscrewed Multiple Personalities Let’s Get Physical What You See May Be What You Get Take A Good Whiff All In Good Taste Tactile Impressions Grape Expectations How To Talk About Wine Top 10 Wine Tasting Terms You Should Know Sports Talk For The Wine-Minded Wine Terminology Distilled In A Few Sparkling Pick-Up Lines

2. Multiple Personalities…Varietals Are The Spice Of Life........................................9

Red Varietals And The Men Who Drink Them White Varietals And The Men Who Drink Them Varietals That Are Meant To Impress – Varietals vs. Blends

3. Know Your Place…Famous Wines Named After Famous Places.........................17

Famous Place Wines Place Names are Legislated

4. On The Make…A Nod To The Winemakers......................................................23

In The Vineyard At The Winery How The Winemaker Influences Taste Red, White And Pink Aging Gracefully

5. Wine Down Restaurant Row…Mastering The Art Of Restaurant Wine............29

How To Save Money On Wine At A Restaurant Personalities Of Restaurant Wine Lists What Makes A Restaurant Wine-Friendly Order With Confidence: 3 Foolproof Strategies Thumbs Up Or Thumbs Down

Check This Out…Or Not Faking The Wine Tasting Ritual Sending Wine Back Reordering Wine Bringing Your Own Wine Brown-Bagging It Vintage Date What Makes a Bargain Wine Shopping Strategies Buying Wine Online Labels…Truth or Consequence Don’t Be Fooled How Do You Want That Wrapped Screwtops Make the Big Time Box Wines Come Out Of The Closet What’s Next

7. Red, White & Wacky…Your $145 Wine Cellar.................................................49

The Saucy Sisters’ $145 Wine Cellar Give Me More

8. It’s My Party & I’ll Wine If I Want To…Entertaining At Home.........................53

Glass Gets Our Vote Buying Stemware How Cold Is Cold Cooking With Wine Party With Wine Stand-Up Parties Dinner Parties Wine Tasting Parties Leftover Wine

9. Love Matches…Wine Pairings For All Occasions...............................................61

Our Simple Rules What’s Your Body Type Wine And Cheese: The Perfect Love Match Wines To Pair With Life Passages Grab ‘n Go Matches Wine Pairings For The Amorously Adventurous

10. Wine Buff…A Healthy You One Glass at a Time...............................................69

Red Wine Headache Oh, What A Party: Hangover Culprits Blame It On Your Hormones How Buff Are You

The Way We Wine…An Introduction

11. In the Beginning God Created Wine…Wines of the “Old World”.....................73

Defining What Is Old World France – Italy – Germany – Spain – Austria – Portugal

12. The Young and the Restless…Brave “New World” of Wines...............................83

Australia – New Zealand – South Africa – Chile – Argentina – Canada – New Frontiers

13. From Sea to Shining Sea…Wines of the United States.......................................89 14. Pop Pop Fizz Fizz…Champagne & Sparkling Wine Go Head-to-Head.............97

Champagne vs. Sparkling Wine What Makes Champagne So Expensive Making The Bubbles: Méthode Champenoise Champagne Houses It’s All A Matter Of Style It Was A Vintage Year Money Can Buy Prestige The Little Guys And Then There’s The Rest Of The Sparkling World Pop Pop Fizz Fizz Leftover Bubbly

15. How Sweet It Is…Dessert Wines Hit The Spot.................................................105

Late Harvest Wines Ice Wines Noble Rot Wines Port Sherry Madeira Dessert Wine Pairings Chocolate and Wine: A Decadent Match

We admit it…we’ll unscrew for wine. Who are we kidding? We’ll pull the cork, pop the cork, tap the box, squeeze the bota…whatever it takes. We’re just floozies for wine. Pretty much always have been. Even before we knew that much about it. There was a time, we’re not ashamed to say, when we couldn’t have told you the difference between a Meursault and a Merlot. We weren’t very discriminating about what we drank. Like millions of others before us, we guzzled Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill in college and still remember that sweet buzz.

Becoming Best Friends…Through Wine Growing up as sisters, we weren’t exactly pals. Our social circles didn’t intersect. We had different interests and even went to different schools. By choice. Don’t get us wrong… we loved each other. We’re blood. We just didn’t want to spend a lot of time in each other’s company. It wasn’t until we both moved to Washington, D.C. after college that we became friends. And we can pinpoint the moment it happened. One day we had, out of obligation or guilt or boredom, decided to go shopping together in Georgetown. We spent several exhausting hours hunting for bargains. (What were we thinking…in Georgetown?) Failing miserably, we decided we needed a break. We headed straight to the bar at Clyde’s. We sat down at the bar and both ordered a glass of “chablis.” (In those days “chablis” meant any cheap white wine they were serving.) That at least, we had in common. As we reviewed the day’s events and our nonexistent purchases, we began to realize how much fun we were having together.

Pronunciation Guide..............................................................................................111 Wine Dictionary.....................................................................................................117 Index.......................................................................................................................123

That called for another glass of wine. As we sipped chablis-number-two, we came to the epiphany. Almost simultaneously, we turned to each other and said, “I like you!” Chalk it up to the wine if you want. We did. We’ve been best friends and barstool companions ever since.

Following Each Other Around The Country

You’ve got to have a sense of humor about wine.

We always had separate careers. Beverly started out in Washington with the CIA. (Yes, she’d have to kill you.) She quickly found out that spies don’t drink wine. But scotch? Straight and often - unless on assignment.

Jean Noël Fourmeaux, then owner of Napa’s Chateau Potelle, brought a bottle of his Cabernet Sauvignon VGS to the studio for his interview. The bottle stood at attention on the table begging to be acknowledged. Beverly – ever accommodating – asked Jean Noël what “VGS” on the label meant. In his charming French accent, he answered, “Very Good Shit!”

Barbara worked for a high-powered Washington lobby organization taking influential media types out to 4-star restaurants for 3-martini lunches. (Or was it 3-star restaurants for 4-martini lunches?) Martinis were for expenses accounts. At home it was value-priced, large format bottles of CK Mondavi Chablis. Leaving Washington behind, we both did stints in Texas and elsewhere and ended up in Los Angeles where we honed our wine drinking skills. Rosé at the beach. Pinot Noir downtown. Chenin Blanc in Hollywood. Bubbly at the Marina. Chardonnay in the Valley. Cab in Beverly Hills. And then it was time to move on. Next stop: Nashville. Certainly, there would be wine in Nashville. When we first arrived in Music City, it was a desolate culinary outpost. But the landscape was changing, and Nashville soon became a hotbed of restaurant activity. That’s when we recognized our calling. We were meant to chronicle and encourage this feeding frenzy. And what better way to get people’s attention than radio!

On The Radio Faster than you can say “Shoney’s All-You-Can-Eat Breakfast Bar,” we landed our own radio show and officially became the Saucy Sisters. The show was all about food and wine. So, naturally, we called our show Sauced! If there was one constant over the years, it was the bottle of wine sitting on the table between our two microphones. Sometimes we got lucky with in-studio guests who brought more. Guess we had a reputation. Our guests – especially the wine professionals – had a huge influence on our attitude toward wine. They taught us a number of lessons.

Paying a lot for wine doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good. Ben Wallace, author of The Billionaire’s Vinegar, told the story of the 1787 Chateau Lafite sold at auction in 1985 for a record-breaking $160,000. It was declared to have belonged to Thomas Jefferson. And all evidence pointed to its being a fake. Wine belongs on the family table. Peter Mondavi, Jr., owner of Charles Krug winery, said that’s where his wine education began. Today, the wine he has on his family table is a red blend he’s named “Generations” in reference to the multiple generations of Mondavis in the wine business. Drink that special wine now. Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, formerly wine columnists for The Wall Street Journal and authors of Love by the Glass, were repeat guests whose opinions we valued. They started the annual Open That Bottle Night in response to readers who waited too long to open a special wine. They say wine is not for saving. It’s for drinking, preferably with someone special. Wine and music belong together. Karl Wente, fifth generation winegrower at Wente Vineyards and a musician, told us he used to bring a bottle of wine to his guitar lessons. He and his teacher discovered the parallels in appreciating a wine and appreciating a song. It was no surprise when, after our interview, Karl asked us to drop him off at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Don’t be ashamed of the wines you like. Gary Vaynerchuk, host of Wine Library TV and author of Crush It, expressed his opinion – something he’s not shy about doing – that knowing what you like is the most

crucial element to enjoying wine. Gary is a tireless promoter of trying new wines but said that if all you like are sweet wines or white wines, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. If there’s no wine, there’s no party! Denise Vivaldo, author of The Entertaining Encyclopedia and caterer to the stars, ought to know. She’s produced over 10,000 parties – with and without wine – and told us which way was better. She was preaching to the choir.

The Grapemobile Almost ten years ago over dinner in New York with one of our frequent radio guests, we were enjoying a quite lusty Domaine La Milliere Châteauneuf-du-Pape and engaging in some serious bad-girl chitchat. Suddenly our guest turned to us and said, “You two should write a girl’s guide to wine!” What a wonderful idea, we said, and ordered another bottle to celebrate. The idea became our very first book on wine. When it was published a couple years later, we embarked on a national, 30-city, 13,000 mile book signing/wine tasting tour in a purple van we called our Grapemobile. The Grapemobile was a 1992 Chevrolet Lumina van with 110,000 miles already on it that we bought from a friend for one dollar. After we had it painted purple and attached all our sponsors’ logos, we made quite a statement as we cruised into each new town. The tour took us three months – which might have been our undoing had the Grapemobile not been stocked from top to bottom with cases of wine. When the tour ended, we pulled the Grapemobile back into Barbara’s Franklin, Tennessee, driveway where, only recently, it succumbed to old age.

Becoming Unscrewed One thing we’ve learned about the wine world, it’s constantly changing. Not the least of which is going from corks to screwtops. In our live presentations to groups, it takes only a second to add some new bit of wine information that we’ve learned. We thought it was about time to put it into writing.

You don’t have to be an expert to enjoy drinking wine, but learning a little something does have advantages. Here’s what it’s done for us. It’s freed us to be adventurous – to try new wines without having to break the bank. It’s given us confidence in the face of snooty waiters and insufferable wine snobs. It’s given us something else to share with our girlfriends. So, let down your hair and join us for a very saucy wine experience in the pages ahead.

Cheers!

1 What’s Your Wine Sense… Tasting & Talking About Wine One of your girlfriends dresses in flared pants, a cashmere turtleneck and a singlebreasted blazer from Talbots. Conservative, classic, preppy. Another friend wears a black bomber jacket with faux fur collar over a tight Prada skirt. Avant-garde, nonconformist, sexy. They couldn’t be more different, but both of them have good taste. Wine is very much like fashion. There’s no absolute right or wrong. It’s all about discovering tastes you love. When it comes to wine, however, there are physiological differences that affect our choices. No two people experience flavor exactly the same way. We have unequal abilities to taste, and consequently, unique flavor preferences.

Screw Tip

You can learn about your Taste Sensitivity Quotient by taking a short quiz at http://www.tastesq.com/cgi/loadinterview.cgi. It will help you match your taste preferences to specific wines.

Multiple Personalities Not only are there differences among individuals, there are differences within individuals over time. Have you ever just flipped over a fabulous wine while you were out with friends…then been acutely disappointed when you tried the same wine at home alone? How good something tastes is affected by our moods, by how hungry or tired we are and by our health. It’s affected by the outside environment – like the temperature and humidity – and by our internal environment. What else we eat at the same time – whether it’s a spicy bowl of chili or a surgary Krispy Kreme – will alter our taste perceptions. It’s no wonder you won’t find consensus in a crowd of wine tasters.

Let’s Get Physical Your attraction to a wine involves the four physical sensations of sight, smell, taste and touch. Each element will give you part of the picture, but using all the senses in combination will help you identify what it is about a particular wine that you like. 1

Does sound affect the way a wine tastes? Restaurateurs have long known that music affects a patron’s choice of wine – particularly ordering higher priced bottles with classical music. And now researchers have discovered that “white noise” – like that inside an airplane’s cabin – diminishes a person’s sense of taste. So maybe that airline wine wasn’t so bad after all.

Take A Good Whiff Ever notice how a passing aroma can automatically bring back vivid memories of experiences long in the past? The sense of smell is the most acute of all our senses and the most easily stimulated. In fact, it’s 1,000 times more sensitive than the sense of taste. We smell aromas either directly by inhaling through the nose or indirectly by inhaling through the interior nasal passage at the back of the mouth. As a result, what’s called flavor is really 75 percent smell and only 25 percent taste. That’s why when your nose is stuffed up from a cold you can’t taste food. In casual wine drinking circles, the words aroma and bouquet are often used interchangeably. At professional tastings, aroma refers to smells unique to the grape variety. Those are easier to recognize in varietal wines. When a wine ages, chemical reactions take place that produce new smells – the bouquet.

Tactile Impressions The way a wine feels in your mouth will tell you a lot about its nature. If you feel a mouth-drying, astringent sensation on your gums and inside your cheeks – like you just drank some over-steeped tea – you’re sensing the wine’s tannins. Tannins come mainly from grape skins and oak barrels and are key to the graceful aging of red wines. In young wines tannins can be obvious and in your face, but they mellow over time. If a wine tastes too tannic, you may be drinking it before it’s had time to mature.

If you feel a burning sensation in your nose and a hot feeling at your throat and on the roof of your mouth, you’re experiencing the alcohol. You expect that with a shot of tequila but not a wine. Wine is all about balance. Much ado is made about a wine’s body, the impression of its weight or fullness in your mouth. A full-bodied wine doesn’t actually weigh any more than a light-bodied one, but it feels heavier in your mouth. Think of the difference in how cream feels compared to skim milk. 2

Grape Expectations Expectations can be crucial when you’re trying wines you’ve never tasted before. After all, if you’re expecting Leonardo DeCaprio to knock at your door, you’re bound to be disappointed when Ozzy Osbourne comes stumbling in. For a new wine experience to be enjoyable and not just a blind leap into unknown tasting territory, it helps to have a touch of the familiar. If you know you like the taste of Chardonnay, for example, try something close to it, only different. Here are some suggestions to start you on the road to vino nirvana. If you enjoy…

Try…

Chardonnay

Chablis Pinot Blanc Pouilly-Fuissé Mâcon-Villages

Pinot Grigio

Pinot Gris Dry Riesling Soave Albariño Vinho Verde Grüner Veltliner

Sauvignon Blanc

Sancerre Pouilly-Fumé Viognier Torrontés

White Zinfandel

Sweet Riesling Chenin Blanc Vouvray Gewürztraminer

Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot

Syrah Shiraz Malbec Amarone Zinfandel Chianti Sangiovese Carmenère Côtes du Rhone 3

Pinot Noir

Barbera Beaujolais Gamay

How To Talk About Wine How do you communicate taste? Not easily. Words are inadequate…but they’re all we have. Unfortunately, wine snobs have made discussions of wine anxiety-producing for the rest of us. There are some words that are essential in any conversation about wine – like when you’re trying to tell a waiter what kind of wine you want. If you can’t describe it, you ain’t gonna get what you’re looking for. Top 10 Wine Tasting Terms You Should Know 1. Balance . . . in wine means that it has all its components – acid, alcohol, fruit, tannins – working together so that none of the elements overpowers the others. 2. Body . . . is the perception of fullness or texture in the mouth due primarily to the wine’s alcohol. The more potent the wine, the more full-bodied it will be. At the other end of the spectrum, a wine that lacks sufficient body is described as watery or thin. 3. Complex . . . wine has layers and nuances of flavors. Like an interesting man, a complex wine is not one-dimensional and often achieves complexity with aging. A complex wine is also said to have depth. 4. Crisp . . . describes good acidity and taste without excessive sweetness – kind of like an apple. The relatively high acidity, while noticeable, doesn’t overwhelm the wine’s other components. 5. Dry . . . is the opposite of sweet. In a wine that’s completely dry, all the sugar from the grapes has been converted to alcohol during fermentation. There are degrees of dryness, and a wine can still be dry with some unfermented sugar left over. If you taste just a hint of sweetness in the wine, it’s said to be off dry. 6. Finish . . . is a wine’s aftertaste. The flavor or aroma that lingers after you’ve swallowed the wine (or spit it out, heaven forbid) is supposed to be a sign of high quality. Finish is also referred to as length. A long finish is the ideal. A short – or nonexistent – finish is not good…unless, of course, you didn’t like the taste of the wine in the first place. 4

7. Fruity . . . describes the flavor or aroma of fruits in wine. The flavors aren’t limited to grapes. Fruity wines can taste of berries, apples, peaches and other fruits. Fruitiness often implies a little extra sweetness. 8. Oaky . . . is the flavor or aroma resulting from a wine’s aging in oak barrels – sometimes described as vanilla. When the insides of the barrels have been charred, the consequent flavor has been called smoky or toasty. 9. Spicy . . . indicates the presence of spice flavors such as pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves. 10. Tannic . . . describes the mouth sensations – dry and puckery – attributable to tannins in the wine. Tannins are found mostly in red wines. They play an important part in helping wines age gracefully and will, in fact, mellow with age.

Is there a way to tell how sweet or dry a wine is before I buy it? A major clue is the percentage of alcohol listed on the label. In general, the higher the alcohol content (over 12%), the drier the wine. The lower the level, the sweeter the wine. That’s because less sugar has been converted to alcohol during fermentation.

Sports Talk For The Wine-Minded Have you ever noticed how much sports have infiltrated our language? Par for the course, on an even keel, behind the eight ball, heavy hitter, rain check, go the distance, full court press, bush-league, run interference, play hardball, clear the deck, the gloves are off. Okay, we’re getting carried away. But sports and wine have terms that cross over into each other’s territory too. These words could come in handy when you’re huddling with some guy. Term

Sports

Wine

Punt What a football player does Indentation at the bottom when his team has squandered of some wine bottles – three downs. especially Champagne bottles. 5

Term

Sports

Wine

Racking Art form perfected by Pool Champion The Black Widow.

Process of separating wine from sediment that has fallen to the bottom of the container after fermentation.

Hang time The seeming eternity Time the grapes are actually Michael Jordan would growing on the vine. The spend in the air on his way longer they stay on the vine, to the basket. the riper they become. But too long, and you risk rot. Split A difficult spare. A small bottle of wine about one-quarter the size of a standard bottle. Starter The person you bribe on a Yeast added to the juice of busy Saturday at the golf freshly crushed grapes to start course. the fermentation process. Disgorge The result of too much The removal of sediment from tailgating. the bottle in Champagne making.

Wine Terminology...Distilled In A Few Sparkling Pick-Up Lines You might as well put your wine smarts to work for you. Have you ever seen that gorgeous hunk of a man sitting all by himself, sipping a glass of wine…and not known what to say to initiate some conversation?

I’m willing to bet that I’ve got better legs than the wine in your glass. You may notice that, after swirling, the wine sometimes runs back down the side of the glass in little streams. These are called legs or tears and are signs of the alcohol content of the wine. Would you like to join me in a horizontal wine tasting? A horizontal tasting features wines of similar type (like Cabernets from Napa Valley) that are from the same vintage but from different wineries. A vertical tasting includes the same wine from the same winery but from different vintages. I bet you could keep my cork wet. A bottle of wine with a cork closure should be stored on its side so that its cork will remain moist and airtight. A cork that dries out and shrinks will let in air that can ruin the wine. I’m just like that wine you’re drinking. I like cool, dark places where I can work up a sweat. For long-term storage wines need a cool environment (about 55 degrees) away from the light and with a good amount of humidity – but not enough to cause mold. I swallow. Professional wine tasters who may try hundreds of wines at a sitting spit the wine out instead of swallowing it to keep the alcohol from dulling their senses for the next wine. As any amateur wine drinker knows, the last wine sipped at a wine tasting is always the best.

You want him to think you’re sophisticated, intelligent, witty and not too easy. (Okay, maybe you’re willing to risk easy.) Here are some vinous pick-up lines to help you ignite the dialogue. Go ahead, give me a swirl! Swirling your wine in your glass isn’t just some pretentious act of snobbery. It causes the wine’s aromas to be released so you can smell them. That’s why you see people stick their noses in the glass after they’ve swirled. Ooh, you’re a nice vintage…mature but young enough to take advantage of right now. Vintage refers to the year the grapes were harvested and turned into wine – not when the wine went into the bottle. Non-vintage wines are blends of wines whose grapes were harvested in two or more years. 6

2 Multiple Personalities… Varietals Are the Spice of Life Finding the right wine for you is like finding the right man: Having a strategy produces more immediate results than leaving it entirely to chance. Men come in all varieties, and so do wines – except that in the world of enology, they’re called varietals. A varietal is a wine that’s named after the grape variety it’s made from, like Chardonnay from the Chardonnay grape or Merlot from the Merlot grape. To qualify as varietals, wines in the U.S. have to have at least 75% of the grape variety named on the label. A bottle labeled Chardonnay has to contain 75% or more Chardonnay grapes. If a label names two or more varieties – like Chardonnay-Sémillon – the wine is a blend, not a varietal.

We’ve noticed that, like men, grapes and the wines they produce have personalities. You may be attracted to some and not others. Or you might find something to love about all of them. Perhaps you’ve never thought about wine in relation to men (not likely, but perhaps). It’s time to connect the dots between the two. One can help you learn about the other. The kind of wine a man drinks will shed some light on his nature and his personality. Sure, you could judge a man by the car he drives, the size of his biceps or his astrological sign. But our love match profile reveals more about your man than you’ll ever discover by a look at his bank account or daily horoscope. Here’s how to judge your man by the wine he drinks.

Red Varietals And The Men Who Drink Them Cabernet Sauvignon The Wine: Considered the king of red wine…dry, complex and long-lasting. The tough skins of the grape produce wines that are high in tannins when young – which means that they can be a little harsh and will need time to mature. But, boy, when they do, their age is an incredible advantage. 8

The Man: As a young man, this guy might seem a bit abrasive. But don’t let his immaturity overshadow his essential depth of character. As he ages, his true self is revealed. He’s an asset in business and financial concerns. He’ll make a loving husband and caring father. This is a man who’s good for the long haul. Malbec The Wine: This thin-skinned grape is vulnerable to frost. But when it flourishes, it produces a robust wine with a dark, inky color. It was once used widely in Bordeaux as a blending grape. Since it traveled to Argentina in the 1800s, it has come into its own and has become the “national varietal” of that country.

spicy or peppery. It has lots of potential for aging. France’s Rhone Valley has produced Syrah since at least Roman times. The Man: If you like a fiery personality, this is your man. He’s confident and not afraid to take risks. He tends to think he knows better than everyone else but, at the same time, is willing to listen to the other side. He loves to travel and will jump on a plane at a moment’s notice. Are Syrah and Petite Sirah the same? Confusion reigns! While they both make big, rich red wines, the two are completely different grapes. It doesn’t help matters that some producers label their Petite Sirah “Petite Syrah.”Petite Sirah has powerful tannins and is almost black in color. Syrah has medium to big tannins and is dark purple in color.

The Man: The Malbec guy is slow to commit. He’s very sensitive and takes it personally when someone gives him the cold shoulder. But when he’s sure of your feelings, he becomes the big, burly protector and isn’t afraid to tell the world how much he cares. Merlot The Wine: Merlot often plays second fiddle to its cousin, Cabernet Sauvignon. What it lacks in power, however, it makes up in finesse and versatility. It can be successfully blended with other grapes or can produce a high-quality wine all on its own. When treated right, it’s fruity, soft and velvety in texture. The Man: This man is fun! He can be the life of the party. His conversation is stimulating and his sense of humor is always evident. His passion is people. But a word to the sexually adventurous: his passion doesn’t necessarily extend to the bedroom. Pinot Noir The Wine: Pinot Noir can be temperamental and challenging to produce, but when it’s on its best behavior there’s nothing that can compare. Some extol its adaptability because it’s equally at home with a filet of beef or a filet of salmon. Others say it’s a chameleon because its flavor changes according to its age or growing conditions. The Man: The Pinot guy possesses integrity and character. He’ll rise to the cause no matter what the time or circumstances. He’s kind and generous with friends and lovers and easily establishes a rapport with strangers. He’s not perfect, but he sincerely looks for the good in all people and usually brings it out. Syrah/Shiraz The Wine: Called Shiraz in Australia, this grape is known most everywhere else as Syrah. It thrives in hot climates and produces a full-bodied wine that could be called 10

Zinfandel The Wine: Zinfandel has a mysterious past. Once thought to be a native American grape, DNA fingerprinting revealed that it originated in Croatia and is genetically identical to Italy’s Primitivo. Zins (as we devoted fans affectionately call them) are typically deep red (almost black) and robust. The Man: The Zin man is, by nature, intuitive. He’s good at solving puzzles and enjoys unveiling the mysteries of life. He often knows what other people are thinking and what their next moves will be. As a result, he’s an excellent negotiator in business. However, in his love relationships his intuition seems to disappear.

Screw Tip

On labels of Zinfandel, you’ll often find the description “old vine.” As a vine grows and ages, its roots go deeper and deeper into the earth gathering attributes from the soil that will add complexity to the wine. Vines that are considered “old” are at least 50 years old. However, the term “old vines” has no legal definition – so investigate further to find out if the grapes did actually come from old vines.

White Varietals And The Men Who Drink Them Chardonnay The Wine: Chardonnay is the darling of the white wine world. It’s produced everywhere because the grape vine is low maintenance and adapts to so many different climates. Some Chardonnays are aged in oak, giving them a distinctive toasty essence. The ones that forgo the oak retain the fruity flavor of the grape. 11

The Man: This man’s physical attributes and social skills are so well developed that he’s referred to as the “Golden Boy.” He has a way with words that you find fascinating and flattering. But if you’re looking for marriage, be careful. He’s not a one-woman man. You could be a one-night stand. Chenin Blanc The Wine: Chenin Blanc is a model of versatility. Thanks to its high acidity, it can produce wines that are dry or sweet – or still or sparkling. Chenin Blanc is adaptable to many geographical areas, but its primary homes are the Loire Valley of France and South Africa, where it’s known as Steen. The Man: He’s a chameleon. He’ll be whatever you want him to be. It’s not because he’s needy. He just truly likes to please. In every way possible. Gewürztraminer The Wine: Not easy to pronounce. Easier to drink. It has a definite floral aroma… sometimes bordering on perfumy. Usually on the off dry or sweet side – but not always. Its strongly aromatic flavor makes it a good partner for hard-to-pair spicy foods. Guess what: gewürz means spice in German. The Man: The Gewürz guy is supremely confident and has great fashion sense. He’s all about the looks…his. He wants to be the center of attention and will spend hours strategizing his “entrance” at the next hot party. You’ll look good on his arm, but don’t count on him to send any compliments your way. Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio The Wine: Wine snobs dismiss Pinot Grigio (the Italian name of the grape) as uninteresting. But millions of wine drinkers like its light-bodied, high-acid, delicate style. The grape (particularly when it goes by its other name Pinot Gris) is made in rich and full-bodied styles too with more intense aromas and flavors. The Man: The Pinot Grigio man can easily be underestimated because he tends to “go with the flow.” But just because he doesn’t readily express strong opinions doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have them. He saves his serious conversations for those people he holds close to him. Riesling The Wine: Riesling grapes like the cold. And that’s why you’ll find them in such places as Germany, Canada and the northern U.S. Contrary to popular belief, Riesling wines 12

are not all sweet. They come in styles from dry and off dry to sweet and sparkling. They’re great matches with food…and some of them can age for years and years. The Man: The Riesling man may appear aloof and distant at times, but he’s actually very sensual. And romantic. He’d probably choose a quiet restaurant with soft music in the background rather than a rock concert so that the two of you could talk. He’s a caring lover and enjoys experimentation. Sauvignon Blanc The Wine: Sauvignon Blanc is friendly and gregarious. It mixes well with foods but is also content to be sipped all by itself. Depending on where it comes from, the wine will have recognizable aromas and flavors of grass, herbs, minerals, grapefruit and tropical fruits. The Man: This man is your quintessential politician. He can glad-hand with the best of them. He’s all charm and engaging conversation. He’s got millions of facebook friends. Some people may call him superficial, but there’s no denying he’s fun to be around. Sauvignon Blanc and Fumé Blanc are one and the same. You can hold Robert Mondavi responsible. In 1966 he used the name Fumé Blanc to introduce his barrel aged Sauvignon Blanc. The name not only stuck, it was copied by wineries around the world. Fumé Blanc has no legal definition, but inside the bottle you’ll find a wine made from the Sauvignon Blanc grape.

White Zinfandel The Wine: Okay, first of all…“White Zinfandel” isn’t a grape. The wine is made from the red Zinfandel grape. But White Zin is such a huge seller that we just had to include it here. And it’s not exactly white. It’s pink. Just like a rosé. But we call it a “blush” wine. It found a real niche in the 1980s, especially among women, as a sweet, easy-drinking alternative to other wines. The Man: Here’s your sweet, attentive, caring partner. Have you ever desperately wanted a foot massage at the end of a stressful day? He’ll do it with enthusiasm. There’s no pretense with him. He’s not afraid to reveal his feminine side. He’s honestly interested in everything you have to say. While you could fall head over heels in love with this guy, just make sure he’s not trying on your panties while you’re at work.

Varietals That Are Meant To Impress As incredible as it may seem, there are over 10,000 varieties of wine grapes in the world today. So many wines…so little time! Actually, only about 230 of those varieties are actually made into wines. Still, that’s a lot of wine. While most of those grape varieties will have obscure names that hardly anyone will recognize, there are some varietal wines that are popular today. And ordering them when you see them on a list will send the message that you know your wines. Here’s a peek at a few.

– Reds – Carmenère: Red, red, red. The name comes from the French word for crimson. And hot, hot, hot…as in its spicy and peppery taste. In the late 1800’s, Carmenère was brought from France to Chile, where most of the wines now originate. Inside scoop: For a long time Chilean growers thought the grape was Merlot – and labeled the wine that way. But DNA testing in the 1990s set the record straight.

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If you’re a competitive person who likes to challenge herself on all levels, check out the Wine Century Club: www.WineCenturyClub.com. It’s a group whose members have to have tasted at least 100 different grape varieties. Some members have gotten so passionate that they doubled, tripled and even quadrupled that number!

Mourvèdre: Mourvèdre is a real powerhouse and offers intense color, high acid and high tannins. Because of its assertive character, it’s often used as a blending grape to beef up other, wimpier grapes. However, some winemakers – particularly in California and Spain (where it’s known as Monastrell) – are producing it as a single varietal. Delicious! Pinotage: Poor Pinotage. For years it got no respect. It was created in South Africa in 1925 by crossing Pinot Noir and Cinsaut grapes. (In South Africa Cinsaut was known as Hermitage…hence, Pinotage.) But it wasn’t until the 1990s that Pinotage wines really got international attention after winning a competition. You can count on a deep, dark color – but its style can range from an easy-drinking wine to one with smoky undertones and full tannins. Sangiovese: Just imagine sipping a Sangiovese under the Tuscan sun…because that’s where the grape comes from. It has naturally high acidity that makes it ideal to drink 14

with tomato-based dishes…as you might expect coming from Italy. Its styles can vary widely from crisp and light-bodied to rich and long-lived. Tempranillo: This is Spain’s answer to Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s got the same kind of masculinity and ability to age. While some of the wines can be drunk young and fruity, most are aged in oak barrels to enhance their complexity.

– Whites – Albariño: Look out, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc! Albariño is gaining on you. And for good reason. It’s zingy. That’s the acid talking. Think citrus. It’s muy fragante (“very fragrant” in Spanish…because northwest Spain is where it comes from). It’s clean and crisp and sometimes even a little effervescent. Grüner Veltliner: Groovy. No, really. “Groovy” has become a nickname for the wine because Grüner Veltliner doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. It’s fresh and aromatic. It’s from Austria. Much like its Riesling neighbor, it’s particularly food friendly. And some of the classics can last for 10 to 15 years. Picpoul: Don’t spend too much time trying to analyze the nuances of Picpoul. It’s meant to be fun…so just sit back in your lounge chair in the summer sun and enjoy its crisp, fruity and vibrant nature. It’s citrusy and bright and can go from picnic table to dinner table. Torrontés: Two can tango. Especially in Argentina. Like its red counterpart Malbec, Torrontés is making a big splash in the U.S. Torrontés wines have exuberantly floral scents and soft citrus flavors. They’re dry and delicate for the most part and are meant to be consumed soon after their release. Viognier: How much perfume is too much? Only you can decide. Viognier has a distinctive flowery aroma to go along with its deep gold color and rich, intense flavor. In your mouth it’s full-bodied and creamy. It definitely has a personality all its own.

Varietal vs. Blend What’s better…a varietal wine or a blend? Varietal-centric wine lovers will say that varietals better showcase the natural character of the grape inside the bottle and that blended wines lack individual personality. Blending advocates will counter that combining complementary grape varieties produces wine that exceeds the sum of its individual parts. 15

Meritage wines are American blended wines made from the traditional grape varieties of France’s Bordeaux region. For reds, it’s Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petite Verdot. For the whites, it’s Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Muscadelle. The term was coined by a group of winemakers in 1988 from the words “merit” and “heritage.”

Just consider this. One of your gal pals dresses head to foot in Calvin Klein. Another friend mixes a Michael Kors sheath with a Versace jacket and a cheap-chic belt from Target. Both are fashionable. Both make a statement. You don’t have to choose one look over the other or one friend over the other. It’s not too different when you consider a one-grape varietal wine and a blend. There’s room for both. We say you don’t have to choose. Drink them all!

3 Know Your Place… Famous Wines Named After Famous Places Chianti, Bordeaux, Rioja, Chablis, Champagne, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Pouilly-Fuissé. What do all these wines have in common? They’re named after places…not grapes. Blame the Europeans. They’ve been making wine for centuries and, through experimentation, learned which grapes grew best where. Different regions became known for using certain grapes in their wines. And the wines, for the most part, weren’t from single grape varieties. They were blends of several grapes. Before long, people came to associate a region with a particular type of wine. They didn’t need no stinkin’ label to tell them what was inside the bottle. But heaven help the rest of us who aren’t familiar with those regional differences. Choosing a place-name wine can make you want to scream. To keep you from making a scene over a wine list of place-names, here are some of the more well-known wines named after their places of origin. Dolly Parton notwithstanding…bigger isn’t always better. The “place” in a place name can be an extremely large region, or a subdivision of a region or a very small area the size of a village or even a single vineyard! Generally, the smaller or more specific the place listed on the label, the better the wine is considered to be. And the higher the price.

Famous Place Wines Barolo Barolo is a tiny section of the Piedmont region in northwest Italy. Barolo, the wine produced there from the Nebbiolo grape, has been called the “king of wines and the wine of kings.” Like most things royal, it doesn’t come cheap. In general, Barolos are big, tannic red wines that need time to age. Lots of time. At least ten years for traditional Barolos.

Beaujolais Like a sitcom actress who gets a Broadway gig and begs to be taken seriously, Beaujolais has gained fame as a fun, light, frivolous quaff – but it has a serious side too. Much of what we know as Beaujolais is fresh, fruity, light-bodied and meant to be drunk soon after release. It’s the kind of wine that’s perfectly suited to summertime and to White Zinfandel drinkers who want to experiment with their first reds. The Beaujolais wines that have more depth of character are, in lots of cases, not even labeled as Beaujolais. They’re named after the smaller areas within the Beaujolais district …names like Brouilly, Fleurie, Saint-Amour and Moulin-à-Vent. You probably guessed that Beaujolais is in France. It’s actually part of the larger region of Burgundy. And the grapes that go into the bottle are Gamay. What is Beaujolais Nouveau? “New Beaujolais” is the first wine made from the year’s grape harvest. It’s only about six weeks old when it’s officially released on the third Thursday of November. Celebrations accompanying its release were a fad in the 1980s and 1990s. It was a great marketing success of Georges Duboeuf, who makes a ton of the stuff.

Bordeaux While white wines are produced in Bordeaux in southwest France, it’s the reds that are responsible for most of the acclaim. They’re made by blending certain grapes – primarily Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot – with occasional additions of Malbec and Petit Verdot. Bordeaux wines are meant for aging. Young ones – say, up to ten years old – can be very dry and tannic. But they mellow with age, developing a softer and more multifaceted flavor. The white wines of Bordeaux are made from Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon. Burgundy Burgundy wines (or Vin de Bourgogne, as they say in France) are mostly made from single grape varieties as opposed to blends: Reds are from the Pinot Noir grape and whites are from Chardonnay. The region is huge and is made up of thousands of smallscale growers who sell the grapes from their tiny plots of land to négociants – merchants who blend and bottle the wines under their own labels.

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When your Sangria recipe calls for “Burgundy,” don’t waste your money on an expensive French wine. The brandy and fruit in the recipe and the extended steeping time will camouflage any imperfections the wine might have. We’ve always used Gallo Hearty Burgundy – which, of course, is not real Burgundy. It’s now available under the Gallo Family Twin Valley label.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape Translated, this means “new castle of the Pope.” Why? It’s named after the village in France where the summer palace of the Avignon popes was built. Châteauneuf-du-Pape can be made with up to 13 different grape varieties, but the usual suspects are Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah. Stick your nose into the glass, and you’ll likely get some intense aromas of earth, flowers and herbs. Take a sip, and you’ll experience something fullbodied and powerful. We’re always learning something new about wines. Sometimes accidentally. Like the time we were hosting a lunch in a fancy-schmancy New York restaurant. We ordered a Châteauneuf-du-Pape that we weren’t familiar with (always in search of something new), fully expecting a robust red. When the waiter delivered the wine, it was white! Yes, that was the day we realized that the region produces white wines as well. Chablis Don’t for a moment think we’re talking about big jugs of cheap white wine. Real Chablis comes from a district just a hundred miles from Paris. Real Chablis is made from Chardonnay grapes. Chablis producers rarely use oak – as many American Chardonnay producers do – which explains, in part, why Chablis tastes different. You’ll find it dry and crisp. Champagne It’s only Champagne when it comes from the Champagne region of France. Every other effervescent competitor is sparkling wine. The common denominator, of course, is the bubbles. The three grapes used for Champagne are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The taste can range from dry to sweet and from toasty and nutty to fruity. Chianti Chianti comes from the region of the same name in Tuscany in central Italy. This bold, dry red wine was once instantly identifiable by its straw-covered bottle. Because you’d see those bottles on top of red and white checked tablecloths in every tacky Italian restaurant, they came to symbolize cheap wine. So, nowadays you’ll find most Chianti in traditional wine bottles. 19

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Chianti is a blend of grape varieties, with Sangiovese being the dominant one. The best quality wines come from a district inside Chianti called Classico. That’s what “Chianti Classico” on the label means. Most of the producers in the Classico district also identify their wines with a black rooster on the neck of each bottle.

Pouilly-Fuissé If you live long enough, you notice that trends repeat themselves. And not just in fashion. Pouilly-Fuissé, the full-bodied Chardonnay from an area in southern Burgundy, was all the rage in the 1970s. It was so chi-chi that the price got jacked way up. Then lots of winemakers, wanting to capitalize on the craze, jumped into production. Quality plummeted. It went out of style. Fast forward to today. The quality is back, and PouillyFuissé is poised for resurgence. You heard it here first. Rioja La Rioja is a tiny region in northern Spain with a big reputation for its red wines. (Yes, it produces whites and rosés too, but reds make up about 75 percent.) The main grape used is Tempranillo, although a few others are allowed for blending. Historically, the wines were aged for many years in small oak barrels which produced…well, wines that tasted primarily of oak. The more recent development has been to replace some of the barrel aging with bottle aging. The result: fresher, fruitier wines. Sauternes Sauternes is a famous French sweet white wine made primarily from the Sémillon grape. Its sweetness comes from a beneficial fungus called Botrytis cinerea – nicknamed “Noble Rot” – which, under the right climatic conditions, causes the grapes to shrivel and concentrate their flavors. Because winemakers can’t control the weather, botrytis doesn’t appear every year…and neither do Sauternes.

Parma ham, Roquefort cheese, Vidalia onions. All these locations provide a sense of place to the foods that are produced there. For wine, this sense of place is called terroir. The term can be translated as terrain…but it expresses much more. Terroir includes the grape varieties that are historically grown there, the climate, and the winemaking traditions and practices.

Place Names Are Legislated More than just tradition determines the names of these wines. There are laws and international treaties that govern what a wine can be called. A Barolo made from Nebbiolo grapes has to have been produced in Barolo to use that name. If a similar wine is made elsewhere – even a mile outside the border – it cannot be called a Barolo. Ditto for all the other place names. For a long time after Prohibition, American wines were named after types of European wines like Burgundy, Champagne, Chablis and Chianti. The names were copied but the wines were not. Anything could go into the bottle…and did! A 2006 trade agreement with the European Union outlawed these generic wine names on American wines of the future – but some producers with a long history were grandfathered in. They can still use those names as long as they’re accompanied by the actual place they were made. Like California Champagne or New York Port.

Soave You could call Soave a commoner. This dry white wine from northeast Italy has been produced in high volume at low cost from the Gargenega grape. It’s Italy’s most popular white. Recently, some producers have upgraded their Soave wines so you can again drink a Soave with pride. The most distinctive Soaves come from the Classico zone and will have that name on the label.

4 On the Make… A Nod To The Winemakers Aren’t we all chasing that ultimate wine experience? For the moment we’re not talking about who you may be sipping with, or in what fashionable bistro you might be dining or even what super-chic stemware you may be holding. We mean the wine itself. Its flavor, its sensation, its effect. If you’re looking for the wine of your dreams, try to define exactly what you’re searching for. What’s your idea of the perfect wine? • A taste so big and powerful that it excites every nerve ending in your body. • Something easy-drinking and uncomplicated that you can quaff at the end of a hectic day. • Something subtle and sophisticated that reveals its multidimensional self over time. • A low-alcohol drink that you can sip all night and still tweet without regrets. • A dependable sipper that you can count on every time to deliver the same experience. The saucy wine-drinking girl can find love in every glass at one time or another. Evidence – anecdotal and empirical – shows that the wine experience is affected by the environment (say, the South of France), ambient light, sound, mood… and, of course, the company.

How do you know what wine will deliver what experience? Part of the answer is experimentation. The winemaking process itself will give you some clues.

In The Vineyard Grape growing has a huge impact on what you eventually taste in the wine. The more grapes a particular grapevine produces, the less intense the flavors of the grapes will be, and the lower the quality of the end product. A “lower yield” (as growers refer to it) of grapes through pruning produces fewer (but better) grapes and, ultimately, better wines. Grapes need to be picked at perfect ripeness. The difficulty is knowing just when that time has arrived. It’s a brief stage and is a subjective judgment by the winemaker 22

depending on the style of wine to be made. As grapes ripen, their acid levels decrease, while sugar, color and tannins increase. The wine’s need for acidity has to be balanced with the advantages of further ripening. The year that the grapes are harvested is the date that eventually goes onto the wine’s label. It’s the wine’s “vintage.” So if a label or restaurant wine list says “2010,” it means that the grapes in that bottle were picked in 2010. It doesn’t matter when the wine went into the bottle. It’s all about the harvest. Sometimes, instead of a date, a wine list will say “NV.” That stands for “non-vintage” and means that the wine is a blend of grapes from two or more years.

At The Winery There are two stages of winemaking, both of which have an effect on the taste of the wine: Fermentation – when the juice turns into wine Maturation – when the wine ages Once the grapes have been crushed into a sweet juice, fermentation can begin. Yeasts on the skins of the grapes – or yeasts added by the winemaker – convert the sugar in the grapes into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The alcohol, as we are all happily aware, becomes part of the wine. The carbon dioxide is lost into the air. What makes a wine sweet? If, during fermentation, the yeast converts ALL of the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide, the resulting wine is dry. It has no sugar left. But fermentation can be stopped at points along the way, producing wines at various levels of sweetness. It’s the “residual sugar” that makes the wine sweet.

How The Winemaker Influences Taste Whether to make a sweet wine or a dry one isn’t the only choice a winemaker has to make. These are some of the other questions she has to ask herself: Oak barrels or stainless steel tanks? Oak barrels leach tannins into the wine and also impart flavors. If the barrels have been charred on the inside, the flavor will be smoky or toasty. Steel tanks contribute no flavor of their own.

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Oak barrels are really expensive – so they’re usually reserved for premium wines. But wineries have found cheaper ways to add oak flavor…like tossing oak chips into the tanks. The result is not always as good. If you see an inexpensive wine whose label says it’s “oaked” but has no mention of “barrel,” it’s a safe bet that a cheaper method was used.

Sur lie? Sir who? This is a French term that refers to aging the wine on the “lees” – the dead yeast cells and grape solids that accumulate at the bottom of the barrel after fermentation. (Sounds appetizing, no?) The wine is usually separated from the lees after fermentation, but a winemaker can decide to extend the lees contact to produce a creamy, round, toasty character and added complexity. Why don’t all Chardonnays taste the same, or all Cabernets? That’s like asking why all hamburgers don’t taste the same. Is your burger made from Kroger 90% lean ground beef or from highly marbled Kobe beef? Is it served plain or topped with aged Gruyère and sautéed wild mushrooms? Is it a McDonald’s standard or a Bobby Flay original? The ingredients and the cook have an effect on the final product…and its price. It’s the same with wine.

Malo? Winemakers use a secondary process called malolactic conversion to change sharp malic acids in wine into smoother tasting lactic acids. While most red wines go through this process, it’s a matter of winemaker preference for whites. To blend or not to blend? That is the question. And it’s done for a variety of reasons. For a single varietal wine, like Merlot, mixing different barrels of the same wine will produce one homogeneous lot of wine. Blending wines from different grapes – like combining Merlot with Cabernet Sauvignon – will produce flavor characteristics different than the individual wines.

Red, White And Pink With only a few exceptions, grapes – regardless of skin color – have the same greenish pulp and colorless juice. So what makes red wines red? The color comes from their skins.

When red wine grapes are crushed, the skins and seeds (and sometimes even the stems) are left in the fermenting vat with the juice, imparting their color and tannins to the juice. When fermentation is complete – usually between two and four weeks – the new wine is drawn from the vat. In contrast, the juice for white wines is separated from the skins and seeds before fermentation starts. The result is few tannins and little color. Then there’s the beautiful pink color of rosés. Rosé wines start out like red wines with the juice in contact with the skins. But they only sit together for a short time…maybe a few hours, maybe several days. Just enough time for the wine to be “kissed” with color.

Bottle aging is particularly good for fine reds that begin their lives high in tannins. They can be cellared for years – decades even – and improve. But the wines that we buy on sale every week are really meant to be consumed within a few years of their release. So the three-year-old Pinot Noir that you just bought for $15 will probably disappoint you if you keep it around for the next five or ten years. Most whites and rosés are at their best on release, which may be the spring following an autumn harvest. So drink them soon. The truth is that 99 percent of all the white wines in the world do not improve after a year or two of aging. The other one percent? The likely candidates include white Burgundies, white Bordeaux, German Rieslings and big, bold California style Chardonnays.

At one time, winemakers would “cheat” and make a rosé by simply adding some red wine to the white wine for color. The practice fell out of favor among traditionalists. When the European Union suggested that the practice be allowed throughout Europe, the French and Italians went ballistic. They prevailed, and mixing reds and whites to produce rosé wines was outlawed.

Aging Gracefully How many birthday cards have you read (or sent or received) that say, “Like fine wine, you get better with age”? Actually, the one we like best is, “Age gets better with wine.” We know that to be true. But the sentiment is based on the assumption that all wines improve with time. That’s just not the case. Some wines are made so that their flavors will develop over years, but most are created to be enjoyed while young. Wines have two opportunities to age…in a barrel after they’ve fermented, and again after they’ve been bottled. Most types of red wines benefit from prolonged barrel aging. Some white wines spend time in oak barrels. Chardonnay is a prime example. Others like Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc rarely do. Beside imparting flavor, oak barrels allow a small and controlled exposure to oxygen – which enhances the red color, softens the tannins, develops complex aromas and improves the wine’s body. Wines can be oaked for two months to two years. The ones that spend more time in the barrel are more suitable for aging. The ones that spend less time are meant to be consumed earlier.

5 Wine Down Restaurant Row… Mastering The Art Of Restaurant Wine Can a wine drinker find true value at a restaurant? That’s like asking if a girl can get a good deal at Tiffany’s. The answer is “sometimes,” if you know what to look for and if you appreciate the Tiffany blue box as much as you do the trinket inside it. Unlike shopping for wine in a retail setting, where your only concerns are price and selection, the restaurant experience has other fundamentals that can either please you or annoy you. Is the wine list understandable? Is the server knowledgeable? Is the glassware suitable? Is the service attentive without being patronizing? You’ve got to be satisfied with all the elements to get real worth because – let’s face it – you’re paying a premium for it.

How To Save Money On Wine At A Restaurant Wine in a restaurant can cost six times as much as drinking that same bottle at home! In most restaurants the markup will be more like two or three times the retail price. But that’s still a lot. After years of dining out and drinking wine, we’ve come up with some ways to find value when ordering wine at a restaurant. Order a bottle. We know this sounds counterintuitive. Why order a bottle when you want only a glass? It makes a lot of sense if your dining companions will be drinking wine too. One bottle is the equivalent of about five glasses. Just check out the prices of wines by the glass. Restaurateurs like to make enough money on a single glass to cover the cost of the whole bottle. It makes sense for them in case they don’t sell all the wine in the bottle before it gets too old, but it’s a lousy deal for us.

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Wrap it up for the dog! Even if you’re the sole wine drinker at your restaurant table, it can still make sense to order a bottle. In a number of states, you can take the unfinished bottle of wine home with you. To find out the law where you live, go to www.WineDoggyBag.com. Don’t you just love doggy bags?

Order from the mid-list. The highest markups are on the cheapest wines, and the lower markups are on the higher-end wines. The middle of the price range is where you’re going to find true value. And here’s some “insider” information: Most people don’t want to look cheap by ordering the least expensive wine on the list – so they order the second-least-expensive. Guess which wine restaurateurs mark up the most? So move up a couple bottles for a better deal. Order something you’ve never heard of. You have your favorite brands. We understand. Lots of people like those same wines. And that’s the problem. The more recognized and fashionable a wine becomes, the more the restaurant can (and does) charge. When you order a Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio or Kendall Jackson Chardonnay (not that there’s anything wrong with those wines), you’re being punished dollar-wise for their popularity. So take a walk on the wild side and go with a wine whose name is not on everyone’s lips.

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You can check the markups yourself with your iPhone or BlackBerry. Just pull up www.wine-searcher.com when you have the wine list in front of you to find out the retail costs. It’ll only take a minute, and it might just help you decide which wine offers the best value.

Try lesser-known regions and varietals. Napa and Bordeaux are the big shots of all wine regions. It almost goes without saying that their wines will command top prices. So go elsewhere…say, to Australia for a Pinot Noir or to South Africa for a Sauvignon Blanc. Varietals with unfamiliar names are good bets too…like Grüner Veltliner from Austria and Albariño from Spain. Look for half-price deals. They exist. And we’re not talking about a glass of house wine at happy hour. We mean bottles of yummy reds, whites and bubblies. Some restaurants offer half-price bottles of wine on certain days of the week. Some make that offer on selected wines from their list. Some restaurants may pick a region. Right in our own neighborhood, there’s a restaurant that offers half-price bottles all day every day. Guess where we hang out?

Personalities Of Restaurant Wine Lists Wine lists are created by people who may – or may not – have an interest in wine. At one end of the spectrum are the sommeliers whose lives revolve around wine service. They spend countless hours tasting, selecting and pricing their wines so they can offer patrons an amazing vinous experience. At the other end may be the owners of a neighborhood restaurant who don’t drink or understand wine but know they’ve got to put something on the menu. A sommelier will often have a little silver cup hanging around her neck on a ribbon. It’s called a tastevin – French for, you guessed it, “taste wine.” The tradition goes back a couple hundred years to the cellar masters of Burgundy, who developed the cup to sample wines in the near-dark, candlelit cellars. The dimples in the silver were designed to reflect light to make it possible to check the color and clarity of the wine.

Wine lists are as different as the restaurants that produce them. And, like men, you can generally fit them into a category. Loser A restaurant may offer no more than a house red, house white and house blush. Usually the wines will have a brand name, but sometimes they won’t. This list is like the loser who keeps trying to impress you. No matter what he does, he’ll never quite measure up. But on a dateless Saturday night, you’re just grateful for the company. Comfortable Friend A restaurant may offer only common brands that everyone recognizes. This list is like the nice guy from high school who was easy to talk to. All the mothers liked him too. When you want comfort and dependability, he’s your pal. Rich Hunk A restaurant may offer thousands of prestigious names and vintages in a bound leather volume as thick as a computer manual. This list is like the irresistible hunk in a Hugo Boss suit driving a red Carrera convertible. You could spend days admiring him, but you know you’ll never end up marrying him. Romancer A restaurant may offer a varied and thoughtful, but not exhaustive, selection of wines. You’ll find some familiar names, but there will be a bunch of unknown gems thrown in as well. This list is like the smart, successful man who, while conscientious about planning ahead, will surprise you with a trip to the Caribbean. 31

If I’m ordering wine for a group, am I safer to go with a white or a red? We say order both! You can order both at once and let each guest tell the waiter which one to pour. Or you can get a bottle of white for the appetizer course and then a bottle of red for those who want it with their entrées.

a hoot. It’s amazing how many restaurants that spare no expense on their food will kiss off wine service with undersize, overweight glassware. Look at it this way: What restaurant would sell you a $30 entrée and then give you plastic utensils to eat it with? “Flights” of wine are small tastes – about two ounces – served in a series. Four to six different wines are offered and are often based on a theme. Could be all Italians reds or all unoaked Chardonnays or wines with animals on their labels. The purpose is to give wine lovers a chance to try unfamiliar wines at a reasonable cost.

What Makes A Restaurant Wine-Friendly A Helpful Wine List How wines are presented on a list can help you with your wine selection – or not. The wines may be presented simply as red and white. They may be organized by country, region or grape variety. They may be arranged by wine style such as fresh, crisp unoaked whites or full-bodied reds. Wines may be listed in a progressive sequence from lightest style to the richest or from cheapest to the most expensive. The most useful lists will provide brief descriptions of the wines and pairing suggestions…but don’t hold your breath. You may have to call for help. I overheard someone asking the waiter for a “reserve” wine list. What’s that? Some fancy-schmancy restaurants have a second, supplemental wine list with rarer, and usually pricier, wines. You’ll have to ask your server if one is available. Perusing it is no obligation to buy.

A Knowledgeable Server Your server is the obvious first choice to answer your wine questions. If well trained, he’ll be on a first-name basis with the wines on the list and will be able to describe how each one tastes. If his response, instead, is “Uh, well, they’re all good,” you’ll know you’re on your own. Or if his recommendations are limited to one wine and one wine only, you have a right to be suspicious of his motives. Sometimes servers are told to push certain wines because the restaurant makes more money on those.

Screw Tip

Look out for the server trying to maximize wine sales by constantly topping off everyone’s glass until the bottle is prematurely empty. Don’t get us wrong. Ordering a second bottle is a great idea as long as it’s at our own pace. If you’d prefer to take charge of the pouring, it’s perfectly okay to say so.

Quality Glassware You can tell a lot about a restaurant’s attitude toward wine by the stemware it uses. If you’re served in what amounts to a jelly glass on a stem, the restaurant doesn’t give 32

Ample List of Wines by the Glass In a perfect world all restaurants would offer an endless array of wines by the glass. Sadly, that’s rarely the case. Much as we hate to say so, there’s a legitimate reason: Wine begins to deteriorate as soon as the bottle is opened. It’s a problem for restaurants to preserve the wine that remains in all those opened bottles. Unless a restaurant has invested in a preservation system, a lot of leftover wine can be wasted. A wine-friendly restaurant will “recycle” leftover wines for marinades and sauces and will open fresh bottles to serve guests.

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If you’re concerned about whether a restaurant is serving leftover wine that might have deteriorated, ask the server when the bottle was opened. It’s the policy of some restaurants to mark the date on the label when it’s first uncorked. If the server doesn’t know, either request a taste to determine its drinkability or politely ask the server to open a fresh bottle.

Order With Confidence: 3 Foolproof Strategies Whether you’re entertaining prospective clients or trying to charm a new beau, ordering wine in a restaurant is a high-pressure responsibility. Even under ideal conditions, it’ll be hard to please everyone. Just remember this when making your choice: You can drink more or less any wine with more or less any food. And while you may not choose the perfect wine for everyone at the table, it’s almost impossible to choose a wine that’s completely wrong. Your wine selection will be judged less on the wine’s merits and more on the confidence you exude in ordering it. When you demonstrate authority in the selection process, your guests will believe you’ve made an outstanding choice long before the wine is even poured. They’ll expect to like the wine and probably will. 33

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Don’t even think about ordering the most expensive wine on the list! It’s there for business clients with expense accounts who don’t care that they’re getting ripped off. They’re paying with “play” money since it’s the boss’ dime and not their own.

The Three Little P’s Prescreen Preorder Pronounce A sneak preview of a restaurant’s wine list will guarantee that you come across as an expert to your friends. It’s like someone giving you the exam questions in advance of the test. Having confidence is easy when you already know the answers. Take a look at the restaurant’s wine list ahead of time on their website. A virtual visit to the restaurant will probably yield the information you need. If it doesn’t, a “real” visit to the restaurant is even better. Go a day or two ahead to peruse the list and prices right there. Prescreening the list gives you plenty of time, unobserved by others, to read, evaluate and compute. Then when the list is presented to you in front of your group, you’ll appear cool, calm and obviously familiar with all of the selections. A thoughtful hostess may occasionally preorder the wine. Call the restaurant in advance with your selection, and the wait staff will be prepared to pour at your direction. An advance copy of the wine list will also give you an opportunity to practice pronouncing unfamiliar wine names. Say words like Gewürztraminer (guh-VURTS-trah-mee-ner) and Viognier (vee-oh-NYAY) out loud and often so that, at showtime, they’ll just roll off your tongue like you’ve been using them for years. Will I look really lame if I just order wine by the number? Au contraire! You’re talking about the bin number that’s often listed alongside the name of the wine on the list. It identifies where the wine is located in the restaurant’s storage area. Let your server do the pronouncing…if he can.

Turn The Other Chic Your dining partners are draping their chairs with Helmut Langs, Kate Spades and Sue Wongs. What wine will you choose that can possibly compete with all that high 34

fashion? Probably not your traditional Bordeaux or Burgundy. Too conservative. Merlot? So yesterday. You want something that puts you out front of these fashionistas. A wine that says you’re more than a trend spotter. You’re a trend setter…way ahead of the curve. Here are some wines to be on the lookout for. Ordering any one of them will show you’re cutting edge. Whites… Torrontés from Argentina Albariño from Spain Vinho Verde from Portugal Fiano from Italy Pinot Gris from Oregon

Reds… Carmenère from Chile Nero d’Avola from Italy Dolcetto from Italy Syrah from California GSM from Australia

Conspire With The Sommelier Men will not ask for directions. They want to find the way all on their own, even if they end up in a different state with an empty gas tank. It’s a macho thing. We know how to ask for help when we need it. Whether in the driver’s seat or on a restaurant banquette, we look for the easiest and most efficient way to get us where we want to go. The sommelier (saw-muhl-YAY) is the person at the restaurant whose advice you want. She’s the one who put the wine list together. Who better to guide you? Not all restaurants have a sommelier. In fact, very few do. But when you find one, she can be your best friend and coconspirator when you’re about to buy a bottle of wine for the price of a Bulgari baguette.

Screw Tip

“Don’t point” may not have been the best advice your mother ever gave you. At least not when it comes to a wine list. Price can be a delicate issue, and the sommelier is well aware of that. To be discreet, point to one or two affordable wines on the list and move your finger to the price. Say, “I was thinking about something along this line.” The sommelier will understand.

You’ll want to impart three pieces of information to the sommelier: the food you plan to order, wines you typically enjoy and your price range. That will help her in her mission to guide you to the perfect wine selection for your meal.

Thumbs Up Or Thumbs Down? Congratulations, you successfully maneuvered through the wine list and made what you think will be the perfect wine selection. But your job is not over. 35

Now you have to pass judgment on its drinkability. The ceremony attached to this process has made otherwise fearless men melt into their upholstered chairs. As women we have a distinct advantage over the guys in this domain. After all, we’ve been faking “it” for years. We can fake this too.

Screw Tip

The purpose of the wine tasting ritual isn’t to determine the suitability of your choice. And it’s not a devious test to show you up as a rube. It’s simply to make sure that you’re getting the wine you ordered and that the wine hasn’t, for some reason, gone bad. This is not the time to reject the wine just because you don’t care for the taste.

Check This Out...Or Not Before you get to taste the wine, your server will present you with two things: the bottle and the cork. One deserves close scrutiny. The other, not so much. The presentation of the bottle is the time to take a long look at the label. Is it exactly what you ordered? Be sure to check the vintage date. Different vintages can vary in quality and value. The wrong one could cost you. After opening the bottle of wine, the waiter will put the cork at your place for inspection. You can look at it or ignore it. There are very few things that inspecting the cork will tell you that smelling and tasting the wine won’t. Just don’t smell the cork. It screams, “Rookie!” Presentation of the cork goes way back to a time before labels, when there was no proof a bottle of wine actually came from the winery it was attributed to. Unscrupulous restaurateurs would pass off common French wine as having come from famous châteaus. That’s when châteaus began branding their names on the corks and waiters started presenting them.

Should you decide to examine the cork, it could alert you to danger ahead. On rare occasions you might encounter a cork that’s dry and crumbly or thoroughly wet – both of which could signal that air has crept into the bottle and damaged the wine. Your subsequent taste of the wine will tell for sure. If the wine has a screwtop, the waiter will probably just pocket the cap, eliminating this entire part of the process altogether.

Faking The Wine Tasting Ritual To come across like a wine pro and impress everyone at your table, including the solemn waiter hovering at your side, you don’t have to know all that much about wine. In fact, if you follow our six simple S-words, you’ll have them all fooled. Don’t worry about the “whys.” Right now, we just want you to look the part of expert. Stem – Hold the glass by the stem…not with your fingers wrapped around the bowl. It’s been our observation that the more someone knows about wine, the lower on the stem she holds the glass. Stare – Hold the glass up and look at the wine. Tilt the glass. Put something white – like your napkin – behind the bowl and just admire. Swirl – Move the glass around in a whirling motion so that the wine circulates around the bowl. Not so vigorously that any splashes out. This can be done either with the glass in the air or with base of the glass on the table. Smell – We’re talking about a big inhale…not a short sniff. Stick your nose WAY into the glass and breathe in deeply. Sip – Roll the wine around so that it reaches every surface of your mouth and tongue. Follow that by swallowing. Silence – No comment on the wine is required. It’s now time to have the server pour for everyone at the table.

Sending Wine Back Oh, no! You followed the wine tasting ritual script, but when it got to the part where you put your nose into the wine glass and took a big whiff, something horrible happened. Rather than being met with the fresh and fruity scent of berries, you were nearly gagged by the noxious fumes. It’s time to send the wine back. Nine times out of ten, your nose knows. If you’d prefer to rely on your palate, go ahead and taste. It won’t hurt you. It’ll probably confirm what you already know: Anything that smells that bad isn’t something you’re about to gag down. Now is no time to be timid or ashamed. After all, you’re rejecting this bottle for cause. Ask your server or sommelier to confirm your suspicions and request another bottle. He will likely replace the bad bottle with a new bottle of the same wine. If you or the 37

restaurant management is wary of another bottle of the same wine, just make another selection. 5 Aromas You Don’t Want to Smell in Your Wine

Just remember that when you supply your own wine, you’ll be assessed a “corkage” fee. It varies tremendously from restaurant to restaurant and can range from $10 to $35 a bottle and more. Restaurants that want to discourage patrons from bringing their own wine but don’t want to say “no” to their customers will set really high corkage fees.

1. Rotten Eggs . . . from too much sulfur used in making the wine. 2. Nail Polish Remover . . . due to a bacterial spoilage. 3. Wet Newspaper . . . resulting from a cork tainted with a chemical called TCA. 4. Burnt Marshmallow . . . from oxidation when the wine has been stored improperly. 5. Sweaty Horse Blanket . . . caused by a yeast spoilage known as “brett.”

How much should I tip on wine? Our simple tipping rule: Add 20% to the total bill, including wine. Sure, there’s plenty of discussion in hedge fund circles about what’s fair to tip on a $5,000 bottle of wine. We say that if you don’t want to pay the gratuity, don’t buy the bottle. Another of our tipping rules: If you take your own wine, tip as if you had bought the bottle from the restaurant.

Reordering Wine

Brown-Bagging It

At some points during your meal, the server will check back to see if you’d like to order another bottle of wine. Whether you choose a bottle of the same wine or a different wine altogether, you’ll go through the same tasting ritual.

Some areas of the country have large numbers of BYO restaurants, and – good news – they’re on the rise. How lucky can you get! What a great way to reduce your cost of eating out AND guarantee you get exactly the wine you want. BYOs are perfect for both the person who’s trying to economize as well as the wine collector who can enjoy bottles she may have had in the cellar for the past ten years.

You’ll be given a clean glass to make your evaluation of the new bottle. If you’ve selected the same wine, it will be poured into the same glasses that your dining companions are currently using. A different wine – even a different vintage of the first wine – necessitates new glasses for everyone. After swirling, some wines will produce little streams that slide back down the inside of the glass. These are called “legs” or “tears.” They have absolutely nothing to do with the wine’s quality. In truth, they’re related to the alcohol content. The higher the alcohol, the more pronounced the legs will be.

Bringing Your Own Wine Sometimes – and in some states (oh, don’t get us started on all the arcane and confusing laws!) – you can take your own bottle of wine to a restaurant. If the restaurant serves wine, just don’t take a wine that’s on its list. That’s not playing fair. Here’s what we suggest to pave the way:

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Finding out about BYO restaurants is often by word-of-mouth. But you can search for them in ten metropolitan areas at www.GoBYO.com.

We always bring a backup bottle (or two or three) in case our first bottle is bad…and in case we want to share wine with other patrons who may not have known that the restaurant was BYO. We’ve made quite a few friends that way. BTW, when we go brown-bagging, we don’t actually carry our wines in brown bags. That’s carrying frugal fashion just a little too far.

When you call for your reservation, express your intention to bring a “special” wine and offer your reason for wanting to bring it. Maybe the occasion is important to you (like an anniversary or birthday), or perhaps the wine itself has a particular significance. Nine time out of ten, the restaurant will bend over backward to make you happy.

6 Grape Deals… Shopping On Foot & Online Okay, homebodies, step into your sippin’ boots. It’s time to venture out into the world of commerce. Wine shopping is no simple task. For one thing, there are so many choices. Where do you start? And where do you go for guidance? Men go to scores. They’ll trek to the wine store with Wine Spectator ratings under their arms. Women are more adventurous. We experiment at restaurants by ordering glasses of wine we’ve never heard of, and we’ll take a chance on a bottle of wine because it has a pretty label. But sometimes having a plan of action just makes more sense. How reliable are wine critics? About as reliable as movie critics. The trick is to find one with the same “taste” as yours. A study not long ago analyzed over 100,000 tasting notes on 18 wines by famous wine critics and found that there was absolutely no consensus – or even consistency – among the critics.

Vintage Dates The date you see on the label of a wine refers to the year that the grapes were harvested. That year could have had an outstanding crop of grapes or it could have been a less than desirable crop. The better the grapes, the better the chances for a great wine. And that’s why those vintage dates get rated. The vintage scores are assembled in charts. They’re particularly useful for wine-growing areas that have big weather fluctuations from year to year, where wine quality will vary as a result. The charts will point you to the best years. Mediocre wine can be made any time – even in very good years. Conversely, talented winemakers manage to make very good wine even in average years. Probably more important than the vintage year is the winery that produces the wine and its track record over a period of years. 40

What Makes A Bargain Wine Wine doesn’t have to be expensive to be good. On the other hand, cheap wine isn’t always a bargain.

• Develop a relationship with your wine merchants. Even if you only get on their email lists, you’ll be notified about special promotions and sales. And if they get to know your preferences, you could get a heads-up about special arrivals. • Make a bee-line for the discounted section. These are often odd lots or special promo tions where you can find bottles at a bargain.

Let’s look at what makes a wine cheap. Winemaking, while part art, is also a business. When an American winery produces a Cabernet Sauvignon, it’s using one of the most popular and most expensive grapes around. To keep costs low, a winemaker might buy the cheapest Cabernet grapes available. Or in an even more common cost-cutting measure, the winemaker will use “press wine.” The first juice squeezed from the grapes is called “free run.” Subsequent pressings yield more juice, but of lesser quality press wine. With the press wine added, the wine is still legally Cabernet but without the quality usually identified with the varietal. The flip side of this scenario is that “cheap” wine can be high in quality. The grape varietal might simply be less in demand than a Cabernet and therefore less expensive for the winemaker to acquire. The land where the grapevines are planted can be in parts of the world where real estate is inexpensive. There are lots of factors that go into the mix, but the upshot is you can find some terrific wines with character at unbelievably low prices.

Shopping Strategies Smart girls are savvy shoppers. But we weren’t born that way. It’s taken years of cultivation and practice and shared insights from like-minded girlfriends. Here are our strategies for those new to the wine-buying game. • Buy lesser-known and underappreciated varietals. Chardonnay and Cabernet continue to be the top sellers, with price tags that reflect their popularity. Look instead for varietals not in such demand. Some may be totally unfamiliar to you, but when they’re well priced, who can’t afford to take a chance? • Buy from less trendy parts of the world. You’ll find a lot of the best values when you leave the U.S. and look for wines from unknown or unsung areas of the world. • Don’t be swayed by a high price. Price does not necessarily mean quality. Lots of factors play a role in pricing wines that have nothing to do with their worth. • Buy by the case. Most retailers and internet sellers offer a 10-15 percent discount when you buy a case. And it doesn’t always have to be a case of the same wine. Often retailers will let you mix and match any twelve bottles you want. 42

• Trust your own judgment. If you know what you want and like, don’t let someone else tell you which wines to buy.

Buying Online Thanks to ongoing legislation, internet wine purchasing is now permitted in many states. Never before has a girl had so many choices available – and all the while sitting at a cute café with her smartphone and a glass of bubbly. Tips for Buying Online 1. Buy from a reputable merchant. These are usually vendors that have established stores or have been in business for a while. Look to see if the website has a rating. Many wine experts and critics are rating wine websites and posting their ratings on their sites or the wine site. 2. Compare prices on different sites. Like most online shopping, prices vary. Be sure you are purchasing the vintage that you want. 3. Check shipping charges and methods. And, if buying large quantities – or more expensive wines – look for free shipping. 4. Sign up to receive email notifications of specials and sales. 5. Join an online wine club. This is a great way to try new wines at reduced rates. Choose clubs (like the California Wine Club www.cawineclub.com) where you don’t have to commit to several months of membership. Labels…Truth Or Consequence? Any girl who carries a Kate Spade bag is obviously impressed by designer labels. Just like Kate, wineries have created some labels to get her attention. Marilyn Merlot, Naked Grape, Big Bitch Red, Old Tart, White Trash White are just a few labels aimed at women buyers. But wine labels are serious business. The label provides guarantees that you’re getting what you pay for. Here are some of the elements you’ll find: 43

Name Of The Wine In the U.S. and the rest of the “New World,” wines are named for the grape – Chardonnay and Merlot, for example. In Europe they’re named for places – like Rioja and Chianti. Producer In most cases the name of the producer is straight-forward. In the U.S. and some other countries the producer name can be a trademark used by a winery with multiple lines of products. A winery may have second, third and fourth labels for wines it wants to sell to different market segments. Gallo, for example, uses E & J Gallo, Napalm, Gallo of Sonoma, Barefoot and Bartles & James. Vintage Year If a vintage year is stated on the label, 95 percent of the grapes must have been harvested that year. The vintage is particularly relevant for wines meant for long-term cellaring. A vintage date isn’t required. Wineries often blend two or more vintages to achieve a uniform product from year to year. Appellation This the place the grapes come from. The origin of the grapes helps predict the nature of the wine. Every country has its own rules governing appellations. In the U.S., appellations start with “America” and are identified by smaller and smaller areas (“California,” “North Coast,” “Mendocino Country,” “Anderson Valley”) within the larger ones. “America,” although not often used as an appellation, would suggest the wine was a blend of products from two or more states. The more narrowly defined an appellation is, the higher the price you can expect to pay. Alcohol Content Table wines in the U.S. are permitted alcohol levels between 7 and 14 percent. Wines below 12 percent are light-bodied, easy-drinking wines like Riesling and White Zinfandel. Most table wines will be between 12 and 14 percent. A wine that exceeds the 14 percent limit will be full-bodied and more expensive because it enters a higher tax bracket reserved for fortified wines. Surgeon General’s Warning It states that drinking alcoholic beverages can cause birth defects, impair your ability to drive a car or operate machinery, and cause health problems. Although wine producers have been lobbying to include a statement of the health benefits of wine based on scientific studies, they’ve so far been denied. 44

Don’t Be Fooled There are plenty of other label terms that can confuse an all-American Phi Beta Kappa. “Estate bottled” means that 100 percent of the grapes were grown in the winery’s own vineyards (not by an independent farmer or another winery) and that the winery itself crushed the grapes, fermented the juice and put it into the bottles. “Estate bottled” is a sign of quality. How about “vinted and bottled by” and “cellared and bottled by?” While those phrases don’t necessarily indicate a lesser quality wine, they tell you that either the grapes or the already-fermented wine came from another source. “Reserve” has no legal meaning on American wine labels. Some wineries use it to denote bottlings of their best wines. Others use the term just to make you think the wine is special. That goes for related terms like “private reserve” and “proprietor’s reserve.” However, “riserva” on Italian wine labels and “reserva” on Spanish labels have very specific meaning linked to the length of time a wine has been aged. Meritage (rhymes with heritage) is a registered trademark of the Meritage Association whose members produce Bordeaux-style wines. Wines with this distinction have to be a blend of two or more Bordeaux grape varieties and have to be the winery’s most expensive offering.

How Do You Want That Wrapped? Decisions about what wines to buy aren’t the only considerations on this shopping trip. Now you have to choose the right container for your purposes. Do you want a large format bottle for a big party? “Green” packaging to satisfy your environmental concerns? A screwtop so you don’t have to worry about a corkscrew? So many options. It used to be that traditional bottles offered the only choices: • Bordeaux bottles with high shoulders. Dark green glass for reds and light green for whites. • Burgundy bottles with slope shoulders. • German bottles that are tall and slender. Brown for the Rhine and green for Mosel and Alsace. • Champagne bottles with thick glass, long neck and large indentation at the bottom. With powerful marketing incentives to differentiate themselves on retail shelves, wineries have come up with imaginative variations – blue bottles, red bottles, bottles in the shape of half moons and fish. 45

Screwtops Make The Big Time

What Next?

It used to be that no girl with any propriety would be caught dead unscrewing her wine. That was for weathered winos you’d see sitting on the curb swigging from brown paper bags. Times have certainly changed.

Whoever thought that wines would come in juice cartons? But they do. And in plastic bottles and in cans. Some of the innovation is driven by environmental considerations. Some by pure economics. (Bottles cost a lot.) And some by common sense. Who needs to wash down a bucket of KFC with an expensive wine inside an expensive bottle?

When it was discovered that tainted corks were damaging so many wines, the time was right to look for alternate closures. Some winemakers opted for plastic corks and still do. But the screwtop was right under everyone’s noses and deserved a try.

These are the convenient, fun wines that are meant to be enjoyed every day. And we mean “today.” They’re not meant for long-term storage.

The Stelvin closure was produced in the 1960s by a French manufacturer at the behest of Australian winemaker Peter Wall, who really drove the development of the alternative sealing system. But when it was introduced in the U.S. twenty years later, it was a marketing fiasco. Not so in Australia and New Zealand. They embraced the twist-offs wholeheartedly. Americans have been slow to cozy up to the screwtop, but with many fine wines getting screwed (so to speak) acceptance is accelerating. After all, it’s about protecting the wine.

Screw Just for your image, you may want to at least give lip service to screwtops. AccordTip ing to a recent study, the less sophisticated the wine purchaser, the more she relies on the type of closure to signal the quality of the wine. A diamond ring – whether it’s wrapped in a velvet case or a plastic baggy – is still a diamond ring.

Box Wines Come Out Of The Closet Producers are increasingly putting their premium wines into boxes – vintage dated and everything. The packaging – once considered gauche – is gaining respect. The bag-in-a-box system goes back to the 1950s when it was invented as a container for battery acid. The plastic bladder inside the box is air tight. When you pour wine from the self-closing spigot, the bag shrinks, allowing no air inside. After all, it’s contact with oxygen that prematurely ages wine. While the system has remained pretty much the same over the years, the boxes have gotten smaller. Most of them now hold 3 liters of wine – the equivalent of 4 bottles. The producers advertise that the wines will keep for 6 to 8 weeks. We haven’t tested that… because no open wine remains undrunk for that long in our households. Since cold temperatures retard a wine’s aging further, we recommend you store the box in your refrigerator. Red or white. 46

7 Red, White & Wacky… Your $145 Wine Cellar So, you want to start a wine cellar? Sounds pretty daunting and expensive. Actually, if you’re saving even one bottle for drinking later, you already have a wine cellar! Differences in wine cellars are huge – from vast caves to customized rooms, from a nice wine refrigerator to a box in the basement. The point of having a cellar of any kind is not so much how many bottles you accumulate as it is about having the right bottle for the right occasion. Think of it as having just the right shoes to go with your cocktail dress.

The Saucy Sisters’ $145 Wine Cellar A girl’s foolproof stash of wine for small budgets and small places Every week presents its own surprises, large and small – and lots of opportunities to accompany those moments with wine. But you’ve got to be prepared. Say a despondent friend appears at your door needing TLC. You can’t just abandon her while you trek off to the wine store. No, you’ve got to have a suitable bottle within easy reach. Each occasion, of course demands its own special wine. Here’s what to have on hand. Before the whining starts (too much trouble, too much money, too little space), let us reassure you: A minimal investment of dollars and space will produce a guaranteed cache of wine for any and all occasions.

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Some occasions demand a kosher wine. Manischewitz move over! Since the 1980s the trend has been for drier wines made from traditional European grapes. Kosher wines are made all over the world from California to Chile, France, South Africa, Australia and, of course, Israel. We found a huge selection at www.KosherWineOnline.com.)

Champagne & Sparkling Wine 1 bottle Champagne or 3 bottles Sparkling Wine - $35 This is your all-purpose, mood-enhancing, celebratory beverage. It elevates every occasion. The bad times get better and the good times become orgasmic. And for 48

$35 you can get an excellent bottle of non-vintage French Champagne, two bottles of a quality sparkling or three bottles of more value-priced cava or Prosecco. Some of our favorites:

“Let’s Boogie” White 1 bottle - $25 You passed the Realtors/Bar/History exam! It’s a night to celebrate. Reach for that exceptional Chardonnay or Pinot Gris you’ve been saving.

Non-Vintage Champagne: Gosset Champagne Brut Excellence (www.champagne-gosset.com) Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Gold Label NV (www.feuillatte.com) Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut NV (www.veuve-clicquot.com)

Some of our favorites: Kim Crawford Unoaked Chardonnay (www.kimcrawfordwines.co.nz) Roche Carneros Estate Chardonnay (www.rochewinery.com) Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc (www.villamaria.co.nz)

Sparkling Wines: Cristalino Brut Cava (www.garciacarrion.es) Gloria Blanc de Noirs (www.gloriaferrer.com) Kila Cava Brut (/www.henrywinegroup.com) “House” White 2 bottles - $20 These are everyday wines for about $10 that you can enjoy after a hard day on the job or to celebrate minor life events like getting a bath for the dog. Or how about a box? For about $5 more you can get the equivalent of four bottles. Some of our favorites: Alamos Torrontés (www.alamoswines.com) Lonely Cow Sauvignon Blanc (www.lonelycowwine.com) Tamas Estates Pinot Grigio (www.tamasestates.com) Vinchio Vaglio Serra “Kroara” White (box) “House” Red 2 bottles - $20 Same as house white except maybe you’re just in the mood for red. Or the life events are a touch more serious – like your cat was neutered. Yes, five bucks more will get you a box of wine the equivalent of four bottles. Some of our favorites: Bodega Norton Malbec (www.norton.com) Concha y Toro Casillero Del Diablo Merlot (www.conchaytoro.com) Goats do Roam Red (goatsdoroam.com) Esporão Alandra Tinto (box)

“Let’s Boogie” Red 1 bottle - $25 This is the wine to celebrate love – first kiss, first dance, first…Share a bottle of Cabernet, Rioja or Pinot Noir with someone special over a romantic dinner. Some of our favorites: Kenwood Jack London Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (www.kenwoodvineyards.com) La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir (www.lacrema.com) Marques de Caceres Rioja Reserva (/www.marquesdecaceres.com) “Wacky” Wines 2 bottles - Under $10 This is the “it’s-so-cheap-how-can-I-lose” wine. Pick out something you’ve never tasted before – say, a Verdelho – and spring it on the surprise guest who arrives unannounced. Some of our favorites: Barefoot Pinot Grigio (www.barefoot.com) Big House White (www.bighousewines.com) Flip Flop Merlot (www.flipflopwines.com) Razor’s Edge Shiraz-Grenache (www.razorsedgewine.com) Total: $145 What’s the best way to store wine in my tiny apartment? The best place is a cool, dark place, like a closet or cabinet. Hot temperatures or fluctuating temperatures hurt wine the most. Even under your bed is fine as long as things don’t get too heated up under the covers.

Give Me More! So, you’ve got the bug? Want more wine for your collection? Wine collecting can happen inadvertently. You find a wine you like and decide to stock up. Or you discover a knockout wine while dining at a new restaurant. Or you had a little too much wine to drink at a recent wine auction and ended up winning the bid on some very prestigious bottles. However it starts, you end up with your own version of a wine cellar and now you want to fill it up with more wine. Not all wines age gracefully. Some are the drink-me-now kind of wines that will only decline over time – about 95 percent of all wines sold today. The rest (the ones that can actually benefit from aging) can be kept anywhere from three years to almost indefinitely. I’d prefer to drink organic but I’m confused about the labeling. What’s the truth? Oh, don’t get us started! Lots of wineries are “organic” but don’t want to hassle with government reporting. But here’s the deal: Wines are labeled organic based on the percentage of certified organic ingredients. 100% Organic means 100% organic ingredients. Organic is 95% organic ingredients. Made with Organic Grapes means 70% organic ingredients.

Following are the types of wines that can benefit from aging: Types of White Wine Chardonnay Riesling Sauvignon Blanc Sémillon

8 It’s My Party & I’ll Wine If I Want To… Entertaining at Home We say if there’s no wine, there’s no party. Sure, we’ve guzzled beer at Super Bowl parties and swilled margaritas for Cinco de Mayo, but how many beers and margs can a girl drink? Never mind…forget we asked that. The point is we love our wine and know you do too. So, at our parties, wine reigns. Serving wine requires a little more thought than other beverages. But it’s certainly nothing to get stressed about. We offer you our thoughts on the subject.

Glass Gets Our Vote We’ve all been to parties where wine was served in plastic – or even paper – cups. Did we turn it down? Not a chance! But given the choice between a plastic cup and a crystal glass with a stem, which one would you choose? The crystal, hands down. We’re not trying to be snobby here. Wine really does taste better from a glass because glass is inert and doesn’t affect the wine’s flavor. What kind of glass? Clear, thin, stemmed and tapered at the rim. Clear so that you can assess the wine’s color and clarity. Thin so that as little foreign material as possible comes between the wine and your palate. Stemmed so that your hand doesn’t touch the bowl. Tapered to capture the aromas when you swirl.

Types of Red Wine Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Pinot Noir Syrah

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Types of Dessert Wine Hungarian Tokay Sauternes Late Harvest Riesling Port

We’re not accusing you of negligent housekeeping when we say make sure your wine glasses are clean. It can affect the taste of the wine. Wipe out – or rinse out – dusty glasses that may have been sitting in the cabinet for awhile. And if you use soap to wash your glasses, be sure to thoroughly rinse the glasses so no soap residue remains.

Buying Stemware As a practical matter, one set of wineglasses can take care of all your needs. Start with a 12-ounce glass. Too big, you think? Not really. You’re going to pour only about four 52

ounces into the glass to leave plenty of room for swirling. You can use this all-purpose glass for red or white. But if you intend to grow your stemware collection, here’s what we think is a sensible purchasing plan. A Champagne flute. Champagne is the only wine that really deserves its own glass. The flute with its tall, narrow bowl retains the effervescence of Champagne. The sherbet-style Champagne glasses are very retro and fun, but the bubbles escape much too quickly. Guess you could just drink fast. Next up: another all-purpose glass, only a different size. Larger? Smaller? Your choice. Whichever way you go, use the smaller set for white wines and the larger for reds. If you like to serve Sherry or Port, a copita is the glass to buy. It looks almost like a little version of the flute. It’s fine for all fortified wines, which are served in smaller quantities than table wines.

How Cold Is Cold? Ever notice how the heat makes some people cranky? And cold makes them withdrawn? A wine’s personality is influenced by temperature too. Too hot and the sweetness and alcohol become unpleasantly dominant. Too cold and much of the flavor and aroma is masked. So, what’s the ideal temperature to serve wine? Not all wines are alike. White wines should be served cold, but just how cold is personal preference. Red wines are served somewhat warmer, but not as warm as the typical “room temperature” of American homes. The old room temperature rule really referred to wine cellar temperature of about 55°.

The best part of cooking with wine is sipping it along the way. We figured if it worked for Julia Child, it can work for us too. Wine heightens the natural flavor of foods and adds moisture and aroma. But it can also curdle your cream. So, here are some guidelines to help you in the kitchen. • Use a wine you’d want to drink for cooking. It doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, it shouldn’t be…what a waste. • Under no circumstances should you use cooking wines from the supermarket! They contain salt as a preservative and are undrinkable. • Use whatever wine you plan to serve with the meal as your cooking wine…unless it breaks Rule #1. Using the same wine is the perfect food-and-wine match. • Use wine as part of a recipe’s total liquid, not in addition. • Use white wine for light-colored and mildly flavored dishes, such as poultry, pork and fish and reds for darker-colored and more highly flavored red meats. • Add wine first before milk, cream, eggs, or butter to prevent curdling. • Use wine in marinades. It will tenderize as well as add flavor. • Use wines at the beginning of cooking to allow the alcohol to evaporate and produce a subtle taste. Add fortified wines – like Port or Sherry – at the end of cooking to retain their full-bodied taste. • Reduce wine to intensify its flavors. One cup of wine will reduce to ¼ cup when cooked uncovered for about 10 minutes. • Be conservative with the salt shaker. Wine intensified salty flavors.

A general guideline is: 45° Most whites. 50° Full-bodied white and light reds. 60° Most reds.

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Cooking With Wine

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Pour leftover wine into an ice cube tray and freeze. After the cubes are frozen, store them in a Ziploc bag in the freezer. When you need wine for cooking, remove as many cubes as you need.

To simplify serving your wines at the right temperature, this is our 20-Minute Rule. Twenty minutes before you’re ready to open those wines, take the bottle of white out of the refrigerator to let it warm up and put the bottle of red in to let it chill out.

Party With Wine Any party you host should start with your personal entertaining style. After all, it’s your party. Not everyone enjoys the same form of entertaining. For some basic party-throwing ideas from two girls with (uh-hum) experience, here is our wine party primer. Stand-Up Parties A stand-up party by any other name is a cocktail party, open house, reception, meet n’ greet, mixer, meat market. It’s the kind of party where guests mingle (or are supposed to) and have the freedom and mobility to abandon one conversation in search of another when the first one becomes unbearably boring. Your first wine-related decision is how much to buy. The amount will depend on how many wine drinkers you expect and the length of the party. An average amount of wine per person is one five-ounce glass per hour. Here’s our formula. We’ll leave the math to you. # of Wine Drinkers x 5 oz. x # Hours = Total Wine Ounces ÷ 25.4 = Total # standard bottles to buy A standard (750 ml) wine bottle contains 25.4 ounces. A 1.5-liter “jug” wine or “magnum” has 50.7 ounces. A 3-liter box has 101 ounces, and a 5-liter box has 169 ounces.

Now, what wines to serve? Unless you know your guests’ preferences, we recommend wines that are easy-drinking and that will go with the various finger-foods you’ll be serving. White: Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay (unoaked), Dry Riesling Red: Pinot Noir, Barbera, Rioja, Malbec Dinner Parties What better way to show off your culinary skills and wine-matching prowess than a dinner party? You’ve watched the latest Food Network stars. You could go head-tohead with any of them. So, now’s the time to share your talents with your friends! Let’s start them off with a glass of bubbly when they arrive. It’ll go with whatever hors d’oeuvres you’ve created. 56

Do I need to decant my wines before serving them? There are three reasons you might want to decant: When the wine needs aerating to reduce harsh tannins, when the wine has developed sediment through aging, or when you want to camouflage your wine selection by pouring into a pretty decanter.

At dinner, there’s a traditional sequence in serving wines: white wines before reds, light wines before heavy ones and dry wines before sweet ones. But don’t let these rules drive you crazy. If you want to serve a light red before a rich, full-bodied white, go ahead. If you want to serve all whites – hey, it’s your party. There’s a corollary rule that says you should serve lesser wines before increasingly better (more expensive) ones, the thought being that the entire dinner production is a crescendo with the big payoff at the end. Our experience is that after the second wine, our friends like anything we put in front of them. So, we like to showcase the really good wine first.

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How much wine to buy for a dinner has a number of variables like how many different wines you plan to serve, the pacing of the courses and your guests’ enthusiasm for wine. While there’s no definitive answer, the rule-of-thumb is to buy one bottle of wine per person.

Wine Tasting Parties A wine tasting party is your chance for creativity. Do you want your party to be educational in nature so that your guests come away having learned something new about wine? Or would you rather assemble a bunch of different wines and let your guests learn something by guzzling the wines on their own? There’s room for both of these approaches and everything in between. For a fairly traditional wine tasting party, we seat guests at tables with empty wineglasses in front of them. Usually one glass for red, one for white and one for sparkling. Add a pitcher of water to rinse the glasses between wines. And, of course, a dump bucket. A tasting portion of wine is about two ounces. What does it mean to let a wine “breath?” It means exposing the wine to the air – either by pouring it into a glass and letting it sit or by pouring it into a decanter. Oxygen begins to age the wine. Not all wines benefit from breathing. Most whites and rosés don’t need to breathe, whereas young reds do. In young red wines with high tannins, the exposure “softens” the tannins much like a few years of aging will do.

Consider these party options: Vertical Tasting You serve several bottles of the same wine from the same producer, only different vintages. For example, you could serve a Stag’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007. The objective is to identify the wine’s traits that appear from year to year – or the differences from one year to the next. Horizontal Tasting No, this has nothing to do with whether the guests are standing or reclining at the end of the party. Here you serve the same kind of wine from the same year from the same general area but from different producers. Say Russian River Pinot Noirs from the 2009 vintage from different wineries. Blind Tasting Put the wine bottles in brown bags or a decanter so that none of the guests know the identity of the wines being poured. Guests give their objective opinions of the wines without the influence of a wine’s label.

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They work to a degree, and in different ways. The most common systems involve either a reverse pump that removes air from the bottle to create a partial vacuum or a spray can of inert gas that you squirt into the bottle. We use marbles. Yes, marbles can help you save your leftover wine. Drop clean ones into that half-empty bottle until the level of the wine rises to the top. This displaces the air. Seal the bottle and refrigerate. This helps keep your wine fresher, longer. If I’m left with several different brands of wine, can I just mix them together? Yes, it’s called “blending.” Snobs would be scandalized – so don’t tell them. We suggest, however, that you blend reds with reds and whites with whites. Blending is what winemakers do before the wines go into the bottle in the first place.

So, how long will the wine last? Weeks? Months? For drinking purposes, mere days. The wine won’t get rotten and moldy like the foods you find sitting in the refrigerator at work, but after a few days it’ll taste dull and flat. But, hey, we’ve hung on to our re-corked bottles for weeks in the fridge to use in sauces. Works for us!

To chill your wine quickly, put ice, water and 1/3 cup salt into an ice bucket and add the bottle of wine. It’ll cool the wine 50% faster than without the salt. If you need to chill several bottles, make a salt water mix in your bathtub and add the bottles.

Leftover Wine The best thing to do with leftover wine is drink it. Unless you have a box wine with the airtight plastic bladder inside, oxygen and heat have already begun to ravage the wine’s natural beauty. Nothing can totally stop the process of deterioration, but you can at least slow it down and buy some time. Close the wine back up with the cork, screwtop or bottle stopper and stick the bottle in the fridge. That goes for both reds and whites. Reds will last longer than whites because their tannins act as preservatives, but that’s no reason to leave it sitting out on the counter overnight. Refrigeration decelerates the chemical reaction that spoils wines, so that’s the minimum you should do. It’s the oxygen in the air that degrades the wine. Bottles that are half full of wine are also half full of air. The trick is to remove it. Specialty stores and mail-order catalogs offer all sorts of devices to reduce a wine’s contact with oxygen once the bottle is open. 58

9 Love Matches… Wine Pairings For All Occasions If there’s one question about wine that always comes up, it’s what wines to serve with what foods. Pairing wine and food causes such angst among wine lovers of all stripes. Here’s our advice on the subject: Don’t sweat it! Whether you’re entertaining at home or ordering a bottle at a restaurant, you’re not going to ruin the party with the wrong choice of wine. Wine affects the food it’s drunk with, and food alters the taste of the wine. But if you thought about all the variables that can affect a food and wine marriage, you’d go crazy. You’ve got thousands of basic foods that are cooked (baked, poached, sautéed, grilled, boiled, broiled) or processed (pasteurized, liquefied, tenderized) in combination with other foods that are cooked or processed (or not) and adorned with herbs, spices and sauces. Then you’ve got thousands of unique wines, each made with different grapes from different areas, often in combination with other grapes, processed in their own ways, aged or not, subjected to oak or not, and with various levels of alcohol. Time out!

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We found a website that’s dedicated entirely to wine and food pairing. It has a handy tool that allows you to pick specific foods and get wine recommendations to pair with them. And vice versa: get food recommendations to go with your wines. www.FoodandWinePairing.org.

Our Simple Rules While there are general guidelines and some classic combinations that have proven themselves over time, there are no absolutes. And that’s because we each bring our own palates and preferences with us. Here are just a few pointers for your next attempt at matchmaking. Choose a wine you enjoy. Period. It may not be a match made in heaven, but it certainly won’t be a match from hell either. The success of food and wine combinations is always subjective. 60

Neither partner should dominate. Bold, flavorful food requires intensely flavored wine. Heavy dishes need a full-bodied wine. Delicate foods deserve lighter wines. Preparation should set the stage. There’s more to pairing than white wine with chicken and red wine with steak. Consider what the food is prepared with. Chicken piccata with its lemon and butter sauce needs a more restrained wine than chicken cacciatore with its tomatoes and Italian spices. Natural attractions should be observed. Food with a little sweetness…wines with a hint of sweetness. High-acid foods…high acid wines. Italian cuisine…Italian wine. Invite the three sluts. When all else fails, there are three wines that will never let you down. We named them sluts because they’re indiscriminate about the foods they’re paired with. They go with any dish, whether it’s slathered in fat or all spiced up. And they have no shame when it comes to multiple partners. And, even on their own without food, they show everyone a good time. Who are these hussies? The trollop in red is Pinot Noir. The one in white is dry Riesling. And the one with the flashy jewelry is sparkling wine. What wines should I pair with fatty meat dishes? Pick one that will, in our grandfather’s words, “cut the fat.” We’re talking about cleansing the palate between bites. Tannins in red wines do that. So for a juicy steak, a Cabernet Sauvignon high in tannins would do the trick. For whites, which don’t have tannins, acidity has the same palate cleansing effect. So choose a high acid wine like Sauvignon Blanc.

What’s Your Body Type? It’s easy to say light wines go with light foods and heavier wines go with heavier foods. But how do you know how light or heavy a wine is? While wines can be made in various styles, here’s a general guide to a wine’s body. White Wines Light Body Pinot Grigio Dry Riesling Pinot Blanc Champagne Vinho Verde Soave

Medium Body Full Body Unoaked Chardonnay Oaked Chardonnay Sauvignon Blanc Bordeaux Albariño Viognier Gewürztraminer 62

Light Body

Medium Body Full Body

Red Wines Beaujolais Rioja Merlot Valpolicella Barbera Syrah/Shiraz Dolcetto Chianti Zinfandel Côtes du Rhone Pinot Noir Cabernet Sauvignon Barolo Malbec Bordeaux

Wine And Cheese: The Classic Love Match Romeo and Juliet. Antony and Cleopatra. Tristan and Isolde. Bonnie and Clyde. Bogie and Bacall. Classic matches all. Add to that list wine and cheese. There’s an old wine merchant’s saying, “Buy on an apple and sell on cheese” – meaning that a wine will taste thin and metallic when paired with a sweet, acidic fruit but taste fuller and softer when paired with cheese. Not all cheeses are created equal, though. And over the years, certain wine-cheese love matches have becomes classics. Sharp Cheddar and Cabernet Sauvignon Chèvre and Gewürztraminer Mozzarella and Chianti Stilton and Port Gouda and Riesling Roquefort and Sauternes Goat cheese and Sancerre Parmigiano-Reggiano and Barolo

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Keep the texture of the cheese in mind when pairing it with wine. Soft cheeses tend to coat your mouth – requiring wines with higher acidity. The harder the cheese, the higher level of tannins a wine can have.

Our Wine and Cheese Matches Light white wines Fresh Mozzarella, Goat Cheese, Gruyére, Havarti, Neufchatel 63

Medium to full-bodied white wines Camembert, Chèvre, Gruyére, Mild Cheddar, Provolone Light red wines and rosés Edam, Feta, Gruyére, Monterey Jack, Muenster, Swiss Medium to full-bodied red wines Blue Cheese, Camembert, Gouda, Jarlsberg Sparkling wines Baby Swiss, Brie, Chèvre, Gouda, Mild Cheddar Dessert wines Blue Cheese, Sweet Brie, Mascarpone, Roquefort, Stilton

Wines To Pair With Life Passages Food isn’t the only thing that pairs well with wine. Every life passage – good or not-so-good – deserves to be commemorated with an appropriate wine. And we’ve got some suggestions to help you celebrate the ups and survive the downs of your love-life milestones. First Date: It’s your first date with Mr. Could-Be-Right. Big potential here. You’re seduced – figuratively speaking. You’re ready for some action, but only as a warm-up to something more serious later on. Our Wine Recommendation: Picpoul. It translates as “lip-stinger” and has just the right tangy tartness to get those lips puckered. It’s a medium-bodied white wine with lots of acidity. And it’s affordable enough that you won’t go broke when you buy a case of it for future dates. You’re Engaged: You’re so in love that you can’t keep your eyes – or hands – off him. You constantly exchange sweet nothings with each other to the embarrassment of your friends. Our Wine Recommendation: Dolcetto. Meaning “little sweet one” in Italian. But don’t expect a sweet wine. It’s a light and fruity red from Italy’s Piedmont region that’s meant to be drunk within the first two or three years. So be sure to consume it before the fruit (or the romance) begins to fade.

The Wedding: Of course, it’s all about you…the Vera Wang dress, the Manolo Blahnik shoes, the Coquette corset. You’re a vision in white! Our Wine Recommendation: Blanc de blanc (literally “white of white’). And what could be more perfect than this Champagne made from Chardonnay grapes! On the tongue it’s dry and racy and alive. The bubbles may remind you of the spray of the ocean surf… a good omen for the upcoming honeymoon. Your First Child: What a miracle…what overwhelming joy! Have you ever experienced anything so incredibly sweet? Our Wine Recommendation: Ice wine. This extraordinarily sweet dessert is an ideal match for motherhood. The grapes chosen for ice wine undergo tremendous physical stress in the production process. But the result is indescribably sublime. Ice wines are good candidates for long aging…just like Junior. Second Mortgage: Now you’re feeling really strapped. You’ve borrowed to the max to pay for the new roof. Our Wine Recommendation: Sangria. Cheap wine and mixers will keep you under budget. The Big D: This divorce could make you bitter, but get over it. You’re better off without that ungrateful you-know-what. Besides, sweet revenge is always more satisfying. Our Wine Recommendation: Port. It’s sweet and fortified. The extra alcohol will help you forget the hell he put you through. If it’s any consolation, the Bastardo grape used in making Port is very boring all by itself. Reading of the Will: After all the sacrifices you made for that man over the years, you deserve a shopping spree. No one to answer to. No one to check the credit card statements. Our Wine Recommendation: 1983 Château Margaux. This Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc is pricey but can last for years to come. But then…why wait?

Grab ‘N Go Matches Some days it’s all you can do to drag yourself out of work, make a quick stop for some prepared food and head home. And other times, even the drive-thru is too much effort. Snacks become the dinner menu. Even non-traditional dinners deserve a glass of wine. 65

Here are some possibilities.

AquaMan You crave lovemaking in the excitement of a hot tub. AquaMan is there to satisfy your lust. The bubbles will arouse you while he stimulates your…passion.

Fried Chicken and Sauvignon Blanc Hamburger and Zinfandel Turkey Sandwich and Grüner Veltliner Sushi and Champagne Mediterranean Salad and Rosé Fruit Salad with Chenin Blanc Beef Burrito and Rioja Pizza Marguerita and Chianti Popcorn and Viognier Goldfish and Malbec

Love Match – Prosecco. The bubbles in this Italian sparkler are made in non-traditional ways. They can be calm and restrained (frizzante) or turbulent and frenzied (spumante). As always, it’s your choice. The Actor You dream of being uncorked by a different man every time. The Actor will be whoever you want him to be. You want a Gladiator in leather and chains? Or Rocky or Jerry Maguire? No matter the role, you’ll be freed from the real world and climax with an Oscar.

Wine Pairings For The Amorously Adventurous When it comes to lovemaking, what women want may change according to their stage of life or maybe just their mood at any given moment. Sometimes we’re looking for something slow and soothing – other times, something fast and rough.

Love Match – Grenache. It’s a chameleon grape that can range in style from light and fruity to deep, brooding and intense. In less expensive wines it can offer immediate satisfaction. In barrel-aged wines it’ll provide the experience of a lifetime. Sometimes you’ll find it as a varietal all its own, but more often it’ll be the featured player among other grapes.

The same holds true for the wine we choose to drink. We want it to fit our mood and fulfill our desires. Wine and love are natural partners. Try one of these wine-and-sex pairings with your partner and experience a new kind of wine match. The Quickie You want immediate pleasure, and this guy is ready to satisfy you at a moment’s notice. It’ll be short and intense but the memory will linger. Love Match – Malbec. It will instantly express its intense fruity flavors and deep, dark color. When you’re done, its long finish will remain with you. The wine’s robust tannins mean that it has aging potential. But there’s really no time like the present. The Stripper So you want to reveal yourself without actually baring your soul! The Stripper will slowly and methodically remove each piece of clothing from your longing body until you scream with ecstasy. Love Match – Cabernet Sauvignon. This powerful red can reveal its many layers of flavor over time if you’ll be patient. The first sip may show a hint of ruggedness. But it evolves into something velvety at the bottom of the glass. And you’ll be begging for more.

10 Wine Buff… Maintaining A Healthy You One Glass At A Time Wine is the most healthful and hygienic of beverages - Louis Pasteur

Ah, Louis…is it true? Wine and health. Hardly a day goes by without news of the latest study on the benefits – or ills – of wine consumption. What’s a girl to believe? Should we or shouldn’t we? And does it or doesn’t it? And if we should and it does, how much is okay? Sounds like sex-education class. For the past decade or so the medical community has been telling us how wine is good for our hearts. The American Heart Association links moderate drinking to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. Studies on wine and health have also been associated with a reduction in strokes, a decrease in lung disease, less risk of Type 2 diabetes and colon cancer, increased longevity, slower decline of brain function, and even decreased risk of cataracts. Studies have shown that, on the whole, women who are predominately wine drinkers tend to eat a healthier diet, smoke less and exercise more than those who prefer beer, spirits or who are alcohol abstainers.

But there can be too much of a good thing. Wine contains alcohol: 10-14 percent in a typical bottle. And for people at any age, too much alcohol can cause serious health problems, not to mention the dangers of drinking and driving. Excessive alcohol consumption also dehydrates our bodies and plays havoc with our skin.

Red Wine Headache Red wine headache syndrome, or RWH, is a common complaint among women. Contrary to what most women think, this is probably not related to the sulfites in wine. RWH is more likely due to a reaction to other substances found in wine such as histamines or phenolics, which are found in the grape skins used in red wines. Other 68

likely culprits are congeners, which are part of the fermentation process and even wood barrels or chips used for aging the wines.

notorious hangover headaches. Some people claim that high-quality wine has fewer impurities and thus fewer congeners.

About the only thing you can do is experiment with different wines. If one gives you a headache (and you’ll know within fifteen minutes of your first sip), try another. Keep a journal and do your own study of which ones are the culprits and which ones you can enjoy headache-free.

Lack of sleep can contribute to a hangover. When you have high levels of alcohol in your system your brain does not enter its dreaming stage of sleep which you need in order to feel rested.

Don’t blame your red wine headache on the sulfites! 99.99% of all wines have them. Whites have more than reds. Sulfites are added as a preservative. Because red wines have tannins to preserve them, they don’t need as many sulfites. Sure, there’s a warning on the wine’s label, but that’s for the 1% of the population (mostly asthmatics) with a sensitivity to sulfites.

Oh, What A Party...Hangover Culprits The juice was flowing, your guests were having a ball – dancing, singing, laughing – and after they left, the lovemaking with your man went beyond your wildest fantasies. Problem is, right now you can’t think of anything except your pounding headache, desperate thirst and occasional waves of nausea. Why is the outcome of something so delicious so dreadful? Girl, sounds like you have a hangover. Our body is amazing. In its attempts to process alcohol and rid our system of it, we are made to feel the pain. Alcohol is a drug. When the level of alcohol exceeds our body’s ability to metabolize it, we experience the vile symptoms of a hangover.

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If you want to minimize the effects of drinking a few glasses too many, eat something high in fat like cheese before drinking. A high fat concentration in your stomach will help delay alcohol’s absorption in your system.

A hangover is a complicated biological event that can be affected by factors other than the ridiculous amount of alcohol you consumed.

Screw Tip

Drinking more than one type of wine doesn’t normally cause you to get drunker. However, some wines, like Chardonnay and Zinfandel, have a higher alcohol content than others, so a glass of Riesling may not have the same effect on you as a glass of Zin.

Blame It On Your Hormones If you find yourself feeling wine’s alcohol effects more dramatically right before your period, there’s a reason. Women may actually get inebriated faster during this time because our menstrual cycle significantly increases the rate of alcohol absorption in our body. The balance of sex hormones and our changing moods contribute to the alcohol’s intensity. Oral contraceptives can also affect the rate of alcohol absorption into the body. Studies have shown that women who take birth control pills can absorb alcohol quicker than women who don’t. My girlfriend says there’s Vitamin C in wine. Is this true? No. Unlike most of the food industry, winemakers don’t have to disclose the ingredients or nutrients on their labels. There is no Vitamin C in wine and all other vitamins are negligible. There’s also no fat in wine, but remember, there are calories – about 100 for a 4-ounce glass.

How Buff Are You? Take our true or false wine quiz to find out.

Congeners, chemicals created during the fermentation process, can be a culprit. They give flavor, smell and appearance to alcohol and exist in varying amounts in wines. Methanol is a congener commonly found in wines and is the most likely cause of the

1. Wine drinkers have higher IQs than beer drinkers. 2. The alcohol in wine reduces your bad (LDL) cholesterol level while raising your good (HDL) cholesterol level. 3. A glass of sweet blush wine, like White Zinfandel, has more calories than a glass of dry white or red. 4. The use of wine for medicinal purposes dates back four thousand years. 5. Moderate wine consumption for women is considered to be one to two 4-oz glasses per day.

Alcohol is a diuretic and causes dehydration. That’s why all those trips to the ladies room. A physical need is present. When your body loses fluid and you don’t replenish it (in this case more wine doesn’t count) the fluid loss plays a major role in your hangover.

Answers: 1. True. So says a Danish study that found wine drinkers have an average IQ of 108 compared to 97 for beer drinkers. 2. True. Wine lowers the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) so that there are less fatty deposits in the blood vessel wall, while it also raises high-density lipoprotein (HDL) by clearing away the LDL and taking it back to the liver to be metabolized and reused. 3. True. The sugar content in sweet blush wines is higher than fully dry whites or reds. 4. True. Clay tablets unearthed by archeologists depict the use of wine as medicine in 2100 BC. 5. True. Most medical and scientific professionals agree that moderate wine consumption for women is 8-10 ounces per day.

11 In The Beginning God Created Wine… Wines Of The “Old World” Lounging on the deck of your private yacht, you look back at Positano enveloped in a crimson sunset and take a sip of the crisp Falanghina you picked up onshore… Okay, maybe your vacation is a day trip to the Jersey Shore to look for “The Situation.” But a luscious glass of wine – Falanghina or otherwise – can take you anywhere. Where do you yearn to be? • • •

On the banks of the Rhine surveying the ruins of a thirteenth-century castle? Take a sip of a delicate German Riesling and just close your eyes. On safari capturing a rare cheetah sighting on your iPhone? Try a Pinotage, the uniquely South African red. Exploring the coral formations of the Great Barrier Reef? Savor a long-lived Shiraz from Down Under.

One of the great joys of traveling is getting to know an area through its wine and food. When a trip just isn’t in the cards, there are still plenty of tasting options at home. Whether you go to the beverage or the beverage comes to you, wine is your ticket to travel.

Defining What Is Old World Our German grandmother used to talk about “Old World” traditions. We knew she was referring to the countries of Europe. The winemaking term “Old World” covers the same territory: France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Austria and Portugal. Romans planted grape vines in these areas 2,000 years ago. Over time vines that didn’t suit the specific soil or climate died off, leaving behind vines that were ideal for those particular sites. The Old World philosophy of winemaking is to nurture the grapes and let the wine make itself. So for 2,000 years, without too much tinkering by the winemakers, a wine’s taste identity was attributed to the soil and climate of the individual vineyard. This is what the French call terroir. 72

Talk about old world! The oldest winery, dating back to 4100 B.C., was discovered in an Armenian cave. When archeologists found the facility, it contained grape seeds, withered grape vines, remains of pressed grapes, a wine press, clay fermentation vat and even a cup and drinking bowl.

Region

Types of Wines Produced

Geographical Names

Burgundy Red wines made from Pinot Noir Light and fruity reds made from Gamay White wines made from Chardonnay

Chablis Beaujolais Mâcon Pouilly-Fuissé Côte de Beaune Côte d’Or Pommard Meursault

Fashion isn’t the only thing that’s imitated. French wines are emulated and used as the standard for judging quality. Most countries that produce wine have copied the wine styles and grape varieties that have been so successful in France. Even when the grapes are transplanted halfway around the planet, they retain their French names – Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir.

Rhone Full-bodied reds made from Syrah Robust Grenache-based reds Dry, rich whites made from Viognier Dry, full-bodied rosé wines

Hermitage Condrieu Côte-Rôtie Châteauneuf-du-Pape Côtes du Rhone Tavel

Of course, the French don’t name their wines after the grapes. They’re named after places – or appellations – which can be regions, districts, subdistricts, villages or vineyards. And each area is recognized (at least by those in the know) for the distinct kind of wine it produces. Yikes! Who remembers their high school geography?

Loire Dry, off dry and sweet whites made from Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Muscadet

Sancerre Pouilly-Fumé Vouvray Touraine

Alsace

Alsace, perhaps influenced by its German neighbor, uses varietal names.

France … Oolala! Those French. You have to hand it to them, they’re real trendsetters. A Chanel model strides down the runway and before you can say “le vin rouge, s’il vous plait,” women around the world are sporting the same style.

What’s the difference between a château and a domaine? They both refer to a wine estate in France. Château (literally, “castle”) is used most often in the Bordeaux region. Domaine is used in Burgundy.

In a nutshell, here are the premier regions and their wines to help identify them when you’re strolling down the French aisle of your favorite wine store. Region

Types of Wines Produced

Bordeaux Red wines made by blending Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc Dry white wines made by blending Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon Sweet dessert wines 74

Geographical Names Médoc Pauillac Saint-Julien Graves Saint-Émilion Sauternes

Dry whites made from Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Silvaner, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Muscat

Champagne Champagne Label Conscious

Champagne. It’s all you need to know.

The French are très conscious about the quality of their wines. So they created a system for ranking and regulating quality. The rank is printed, plain as day, on the label. There are four possible ranks. From the highest to lowest, they are: 1. Appellation Contrôlée (AOC or AC). The phrase appears in conjunction with the place name…for example, Appellation Bordeaux Contrôlée. These are the crème de la crème of French wines and subject to the most regulation. 75

2. Vin Délimités de Qualité Supérieure (VDQA). “Demarcated wine of superior quality.” You’ll find the words below the name of the wine. 3. Vin de Pays. It means “country wine.” The phrase is always followed by a place name. 4. Vin de table. It means “table wine” and is also referred to as vin ordinaire. The only place name you’ll see is “France.” These are the everyday wines of France with few restrictions placed on them. Bordeaux and Burgundy are certainly the superstars of French wines. They’re famous. They demand big money. People fawn over them. But as coveted as Bordeaux and Burgundies are, there’s still plenty of talent in France’s other regions.

Screw Tip

Don’t discount a French wine if the label designates a wine quality as VDQS or Vin de Pays instead of Appellation Contrôlée. Lots of fine wines are made that don’t adhere to the rigid regulations. And they’re cheaper!

Savvy girls with an eye toward value will head to the beautiful Loire Valley for their charming and light whites. Or south to Languedoc for robust reds where many growers have adopted the Vins de Pays classification so they can plant a much larger range of grape varieties. Or even to Provence for some rosé to drink along with seafood from the nearby Mediterranean.

Italy … Mangia! Mangia! Who can imagine savoring a forkful of pasta alla puttanesca without a lip-smacking, full-bodied Chianti to wash it down? Certainly not the Italians. For them, wine is made to be drunk with food. And no meal could possibly be complete without a bottle of wine on the table. We like the way they eat! Italy produces more wines than any other country and has bragging rights for incredible diversity as well – more than 2,000 kinds of wine made within its borders. Everywhere you travel in Italy you’ll see grapevines growing, from the Alpine foothills of Piedmont to the Mediterranean coastline of Sicily. Whatever happened to the straw covered bottles that Chianti used to come in? Women of a certain age will remember seeing those in every Italian restaurant. The bottle, called a fiasco, did double duty as wine container and candle holder. The Etruscans in the 4th century B.C. were the first to weave straw baskets to hold their round-bottomed bottles. Alas, they’ve just become too expensive to produce.

Like the French, the Italians name their wines after the places where they’re produced. Sometimes. Take Chianti Classico. It’s named for the Chianti Classico winemaking district, and you won’t find the name of the Sangiovese grape that goes into the blend anywhere on the label. Yet you’ll see that Barbera d’Alba (made near the town of Alba) and Barbera d’Asti (produced around Asti) use the Barbera grape name. What’s in a name anyway? Let’s head to a sampling of the wines themselves. These are some of our favorites. Big Manly Reds … are rich, full-bodied and complex with lots of tannins. Amarone Barolo Brunello di Montalcino Salice Salentino Easy-Swigging Reds … aren’t necessarily light. Just easy to drink. Barbaresco Barbera Chianti Dolcetto Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Valpolicella Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Lean and Clean Whites … are fresh, fragrant and light. Arneis Falanghina Fiano di Avellino Gavi Greco di Tufo Pinot Grigio Soave Fizzies … are bubbly and sparkling. Asti Franciacorta Lambrusco Moscato d’Asti Prosecco 77

Italy developed an appellation system, like the French, to control the quality of their wines. The classifications, starting with the top tier, are: DOGC (with relatively few wines in the category), DOC, IGT and VdT (table wines whose only criteria is that they be produced somewhere in Italy).

Germany … Achtung! One look at a German wine label is enough to drive a girl to drink…if only she could decipher those long words to know what she was drinking. While most of the Old World rates its wines by where the grapes are grown, Germany’s wines are classified by the ripeness of the grapes when picked. Of course, the Germans have always marched to their own drummer. How Sweet It Is! It’s only the highest quality of German wines – labeled Prädikatswein – that are categorized according to the grapes’ natural sugar level at harvest. The levels from least ripe to ripest are: Kabinett – the driest of the wines Spätlese – meaning “late harvest” and offering more sweetness Auslese – whose grapes are partially affected by Botrytis cinerea (Noble Rot) Beerenauslese – meaning “berry selection” with more botrytis cinerea Trockenbeerenauslese – translated as “dry berry selection” whose grapes are left on the vines longest, become raisin-like and produce concentrated, very sweet flavors Eiswein – literally “ice wine” whose grapes are pressed while still frozen At the Kabinett and Spätlese levels, the sugar in the grapes can be fermented completely to dryness. So for those wines, there’s really no direct correlation between the ripeness level and the sweetness of the wine. But at the higher levels, there’s so much sugar that it can’t all be fermented. The wines can’t help but be sweet.

Other German white wines you come across, when translated, could be familiar to you: Ruländer (Pinot Gris), Weisburgunder (Pinot Blanc) and Gewürztraminer. Germany produces reds as well, but tasting them may require a passport. Not many are exported. But if you get a chance, try their Spätburgunder. It’s their name for Pinot Noir.

Screw Tip

When you want a dry style German wine look on the label for the terms trocken, classic or selection. Halbtrocken means “half dry” and refers to wines with a little sweetness.

Spain … Salud! At one time Spain had a reputation for making inexpensive, unremarkable wines. But several events changed that. Wine laws, similar to those in France, were adopted to improve the quality of the wines. Irrigation was legalized. Modern production methods were instituted. And winemakers expanded into new regions – all of which enhanced the production of Spanish wines. We’ll drink to that! Something For Everyone There are more than 50 recognized wine regions in the country, but probably the best known wines are the reds from La Rioja and Ribera del Duero, both reds and whites from Penedés, whites from Rueda, sherry from Jerex… and the sparkling wine that we personally buy in quantity known as cava. We bet that, for less than $20, you’ll be able to find a Spanish wine you like. Spain is most famous as a red wine country, especially reds from La Rioja. The most important grape there is Tempranillo. More often than not, it’s blended with smaller amounts of Garnacha (known as Grenache elsewhere around the world), Graciano and Mazuelo. Riojas have a reputation for elegance and earthiness. Traditionally, the wines were aged for years in oak barrels, and Rioja’s labeling system reflects that. Crianza – 2 years of oak aging Reserva – 3 years of oak aging Gran Reserva – 5 years or more of oak aging

Riesling Reigns Sure, Germany produces other wines, but the country’s signature grape is Riesling. And it’s made in styles ranging from dry and light-bodied to super-sweet – and expensive – dessert wines. Riesling is known for its high acidity, which balances any sweetness, and its ability to age. 78

Screw Tip

If you prefer fresher, fruitier flavors, go for the wines labeled Crianza. For more depth, choose the longer-aged Reserva. And for a big oak experience right out of centuries past, pick the Gran Reserva.

The Spanish whites we reach for are Albariño, Verdejo and Viura. Albariño comes from the northwest Rías Baixas region of Spain where the locals are more likely to have a glass of white in hand than red. The wine is that good. Verdejo leans toward Sauvignon Blanc in flavor. Viura is the main white grape of the La Rioja region. It makes a pretty, floral wine. But it also has a secret identity: By its other name – Macabeo – it’s one of the three grapes that go into making cava.

While most of the country’s wines are white, their reds are beginning to be discovered too. Zweigelt probably tops the list. It’s Austria’s most widely grown red grape, which is a feat considering the variety is so “new.” It was created when the Austrian scientist Fritz Zweigelt crossed Blaufränkisch with St. Laurent in 1922. The wines have a spice and floral character and can be produced in a spectrum of styles from unoaked and easy drinking to rich, oaked and full-bodied.

We’re enthusiastic fans of Spanish rosés – called rosados. Most are made from either Tempranillo or Garnacha or a combination of the two. Not only are they value-priced and delicious…they’re very food friendly and go with those hard-to-match lunch salads.

Portugal … Bargains Galore

Austria … Groovy Austrian wines have long been overshadowed by their proximity to the wine powerhouses of France, Germany and Italy. And a scandal in 1985 when a few producers added an antifreeze agent to sweeten their wines didn’t help the reputation of Austrian wines either. Since then, the Austrian government enacted probably the most stringent wine regulations anywhere. The result was a renaissance in the Austrian wine business, and today more and more Austrian wines are making their way outside its borders. The Austrian “star” has been its native Grüner Veltliner, a peppery white that became the darling of many American sommeliers. It’s a mouthful to pronounce – which is why it has acquired a couple nicknames: “gru-vee” or just “GV” for short. It’s one of those very food friendly wines that hasn’t met a vegetable it doesn’t like. Even asparagus. Gemischter Satz. God bless you! Yes, another difficult to pronounce white wine. These wines come from the Viennese metropolitan area where there are 1700 acres of vineyards. They’re made from a blend of white grapes that are grown together in the field, then picked and fermented together. As you might expect very few Gemischter Satz labels will tell you what grapes are in the bottle. Don’t worry. This age-old tradition of “field blends” has produced mighty fine wines.

Screw Tip

Gemischter Satz blends may be relatively new to the US, but they’re the staples of Vienna’s heurige, wine taverns around the city that can serve only wines from their own vineyards. If your travels take you to Vienna, look for a bunch of tree branches hung above the front door of the tavern. That means it’s open for business. And we guarantee you’ll have a good time.

Port may have put Portugal on the modern winemaking map, but nowadays there are lots of dry wines – red, white and sparkling – being made…and sold at ridiculously low prices. Shhh! Don’t tell anyone. So far, they’re flying under the radar. But probably not for long. Most of the grape varieties used for wine are native to Portugal and have pretty unfamiliar names. Single varietals are available, but, for the most part, blending of grapes is the norm. And each wine region is known for a particular blend. Portugal produces half of the world’s natural cork and supplies over 80% of cork closures for wine. Since the mid-1990s a number of wine brands have switched to alternative closures like screwtops and plastic in reaction to wines being tainted by corks infected with a chemical called 2,4,6-trichloroanisole. TCA, for short. Wines whose taste has been affected by TCA are said to be “corked.”

One Portuguese wine that’s regularly exported and that you’re likely to find on your wine store shelf is Vinho Verde – literally “green wine.” No, you won’t mistake it for margarita mix. The name refers to its youth and the necessity to drink it within a year after bottling. Most winemakers even print the bottling date, rather than a vintage, on the label so you can find the freshest bottles. The wine is light and high in acidity and – outside of Portugal, where they drink the red version – white. It’s also given a little fizz by injecting carbonation. The better Vinho Verde whites are made from the same grape as Spain’s Albariño wine. The districts where each is produced are just across the border from each other. Much of the current excitement surrounding Portugese wines focuses on the reds. In the Douro region where Port is made, winemakers are using the same grapes to make muscular reds that are intense and concentrated. Just to the south is the Dao region which is producing wines with a reputation for elegance and balance. 81

12 The Young & The Restless… Brave “New World” Of Wine The term “New World” might conjure up memories of grammar school history and lessons of the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. But in wine terminology New World is much bigger. It refers to all winemaking around the globe outside of Europe. In the New World the great European grapes were transplanted to replicate the classic European wines. But different land, different climates…different results. What the New World winemakers had on their side was technology that allowed them to build flavors into the wine.

Screw Tip

Old World wines are considered to be delicate, elegant and higher in both acidity and minerality. New World wines are said to be bold, fruit-driven and higher in alcohol. One style isn’t necessarily better than the other. They’re just different. Any wine drinker can enjoy both.

New Worlders see the winemaker as the star. To Old Worlders, it’s the dirt. As happens in real life, there’s been crossover. The philosophical borders between the two winemaking worlds have eroded as Old World countries have adopted new technologies and New World winemakers have gone back to traditional techniques.

Australia For a country that produced few table wines before the 1970s, Australia has more than caught up. It’s now one of the world powers of wine. Australia’s wines are a lot like the Australian people: friendly, confident and open. While Australian winemakers produce “serious” wines, most of the ones we see here are inexpensive varietals that are fresh and fruity and meant to be drunk young. Every wine region seems to have a signature grape. For Australia, it’s Syrah, the red-wine grape that earned its reputation in France’s Rhone region – only the Aussies call it Shiraz. The Shiraz wines are generally full-bodied and less tannic than Cabernet – perhaps closer to Zinfandel. They’ve become so popular and recognized that other countries have begun labeling their Syrah “Shiraz.” 82

How did Shiraz get its name? It’s thought that the Shiraz grape gets its name from the city of Shiraz, now located in Iran, which was the ancient capital of Persia. Many people believe that Persia was the birthplace of wine making more than 6000 years ago.

The white counterpart to Shiraz is Semillon, a dry wine that’s emerging from the shadow of Chardonnay. Outside of Australia, Semillon is used primarily for blending, but Australian winemakers have been able to produce a memorable Semillon varietal that’s been highly praised. Just so you know: Outside Australia, Semillon is pronounced seh-mee-YAWN. Down Under they say SEH-meh-lon. The fiercely independent winemakers in Australia aren’t afraid to try new things. They came up with a couple original blends: Shiraz with Cabernet Sauvignon and Semillon with Chardonnay. They also took something old and made it new again by giving it a new name: GSM. It’s a blend of Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvèdre. The French have been blending these three grapes together for centuries, and now Australia is doing it too.

New Zealand New Zealand wasn’t even a blip on the radar screen of winemaking until the 1980s. Sure, Kiwi winemakers had been growing grapes since the 1800s. But in 1986 their Sauvignon Blanc won big in an international wine competition, and they were suddenly propelled to stardom. Taste a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and…POW! “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” Yes, they have a style all their own. Some describe the big, juicy tropical fruits. Others talk about the grass and herbs. We don’t care what words you choose – or none at all. One sip says it all. Sauvignon Blanc may be the wine in the trophy case, but there are lots of others in New Zealand’s wine cellar. Whites include Chardonnay, Riesling and Pinot Gris. Pinot Noir is the most planted red grape in the country – recently surpassing Cabernet – and it’s becoming the new hot thing.

Screw Tip

More than any other country, New Zealand has embraced the screwtop with over 90% of its wines sealed that way. And the rest of the wine world seems to be moving in the same direction. The percentage of bottles closed with screwtops has gone from an estimated .01% to 42% in ten years.

South Africa There’s more than one way to safari in South Africa. Forget the camera. Just pick up a wine glass and go. Most of South Africa’s vineyards are clustered on the southwestern coast near the Cape of Good Hope in an area known as Cape Winelands. The Cape’s first governor, Jan Van Riebeeck, made its first wine in 1659. Winemaking had its ups and downs for the next 300 years. By the 1990s the industry, it seemed, was back at square one in the eyes of the world. In the 18th and 19th centuries the Cape produced a luscious and concentrated dessert wine called Constantia. It became all the rage in the royal courts of Europe. Even Napoleon ordered it from his exile on St. Helena. It ceased to exist for a while after a phylloxera epidemic but production resumed in the 1990s.

The mission was twofold: Improve the quality of the wines and overcome years of trade sanctions that were lifted only when apartheid was abolished. It appears that the country and its winemakers were up to the task. These days the Cape produces wines from lots of different grape varieties. The most common is Chenin Blanc – called Steen locally – which is made in a range of styles and as sparkling, late harvest and rosé wines. In addition to producing traditional reds, South Africa can lay claim to its own grape variety: Pinotage. It came into existence in 1925 when Pinot Noir was crossed with Cinsaut. What does Pinotage taste like? The first international assessment of the wine was scathing, collecting descriptions like “rusty nails” and “acetone.” But over time it’s earned more respect and developed a worldwide following. It’s light to medium-bodied and can range from easy drinking to a more powerful red.

Chile The Spanish conquistadors planted vines in Chile back in the 16th century. From that point on, Chile has had a thriving wine industry, producing wines for the country folk from the Pais grape. It was France, though, that had the most influence on Chilean winemaking with the introduction of Bordeaux and Burgundy grape varieties. But by the 1960s winemaking had fallen on hard times out of neglect. It took an infusion of capital and a renewed commitment to quality to change all that. But it worked. 85

Winemakers developed a global strategy and began exporting their inexpensive varietals to foreign markets. With good wines at Walmart prices, Chilean wines climbed the charts. Chile produces a broad range of varietals, but Carmenère is the one making news. It’s a troublemaker in that it requires exceptional weather conditions to ripen properly. That’s why it was essentially kicked out of Bordeaux blends. And then in Chile it masqueraded as Merlot. The vines of Carmenère and Merlot are practically impossible to distinguish from each other, and they grew happily together in Chile. Before long, all the vines were called Merlot. And made into Merlot wine. It’s no wonder that their Merlots tasted stronger and spicier than others. The truth was discovered in 1994 with DNA testing. Nothing breeds success like success. Chile attracted the attention – and investment – of winemaking icons from around the world like Lafite Rothschild of France, Torres of Spain, and Mondavi of California. Look out…prices on the rise!

Argentina Once forced to wait in the wings, a French tart finds opportunity and a new home in Argentina. It’s a story of hope, of happiness. It’s the story of Malbec. This French red wine grape was not appreciated for her full potential back in Bordeaux. No, she played a subservient role to Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. She was the blending grape. Sure, there are those who never make it onstage. But Malbec…she knew she could win Dancing with the Stars! Argentina gave Malbec her big break. She didn’t disappoint. Her performance produced a wine that’s deeply colored, robust and fruity, with enough flexibility to be drinkable at release, yet capable of aging. In return, Argentina gave her fame and adoration…and a partner. As everyone knows, it takes two to tango. Torrontés is Argentina’s other star. It’s a white wine grape that pretty much grows nowhere else. (Spain has a Torrontés, but it’s not related.) The wine is floral in aroma and taste and usually dry, light-bodied and crisp. Argentina ranks fifth in wine production worldwide. But until the 1970s most of that wine was drunk at home. Malbec helped to jumpstart the country’s exports. Argentine wines definitely offer good choices for us value-conscious shoppers.

Screw Tip

Wine competition is going strong in South America. Chile was out of the gate first, but its big neighbor Argentina is now going head to head in quality and price. Pulling up behind but on a fast track is Uruguay. Not to be left in the dust is Brazil, which is working hard on its sparkling wines.

Canada Canada is cool! And we mean that in every way. Canada’s cool climate is hospitable to cool climate grapes like Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc. And Canada is generating excitement for its wines on the world stage. In the 1800s Canadian winemakers relied on native grapes which, from all reports, were made into really tasty fortified wines. But wine from traditional European grape varieties is a fairly recent development. A lot of the vines producing wines today were planted in the 1970s and 1980s. Rieslings from Ontario were probably the first to achieve success and were instrumental in advancing Canada’s wine industry. Of course, cool can turn into cold in Canada. And that’s just perfect to produce ice wines, for which the country has become famous. Truth be told, Canada has surpassed Germany in ice wine production. Canadian winters, unlike those in Germany, are consistently cold from year to year which guarantees that ice wines will be made every year.

New Frontiers Where in the world don’t they have wine! Considering that some areas have been growing grapes and turning them into wine for centuries, it seems silly to call them “new.” But let’s touch down in a few of those places with a little quiz. Match the countries to the statements. China • England • Greece • Hungary • Japan • Lebanon • Mexico • Slovenia • Uruguay 1. The largest importer of Bordeaux wines. 2. Nation that produces Bull’s Blood, a robust style of red wine. 3. Home to the Temple of Bacchus, built by the Romans as a tribute to the god of wine. 4. Country with the oldest winery in the Western Hemisphere. 5. Country whose television show Paradise Lost popularized drinking red wine by showing the main characters committing suicide by mixing poison with Château Margaux. 6. Country whose soil conditions were affected by climate change, making it ideal for producing sparkling wine. 87

7. Nation whose winemaker complained that it’s hard to raise standards in a country where nobody ever thought a wine disgusting enough to send back. 8. Country known for making orange (the color – not the fruit) wines. 9. Upstart country winning awards for its bold and full-bodied Tannat wines. Answers: 1. China 2. Hungary 3. Lebanon 4. Mexico 5. Japan 6. England 7. Greece 8. Slovenia 9. Uruguay

13 From Sea To Shining Sea… Wines Of The United States In the Wine Drinking Olympics the United States has scored a gold medal! In the spring of 2011 the country surpassed France to become the number one wine drinking nation in the world. Americans have always been boozers. Our colonial forefathers were into rum, whiskey and beer. It’s not that the early settlers didn’t want to drink wine. In fact, winemaking was an official aim of the colonies. But the wines they produced from indigenous American grapes turned out to be…well, not particularly agreeable to their European palates. When the colonists imported vine cuttings from Europe, the vines didn’t survive in the extreme climate.

Winemaking In America Begins For Real Then a chance discovery of a hybrid that could thrive in American conditions led to the first successful commercial production of wine in the United States in, of all unlikely places, Indiana. Other hybrids were discovered or created and winemaking centers emerged in Missouri, on the shores of Lake Erie and in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. Meanwhile, in what would later become California, Franciscan monks successfully planted vineyards as they moved up the coast establishing their missions. Winemaking in America took off…until 1920 when it crashed and burned. Prohibition shut down the presses. Before Prohibition, there were more than 2,500 commercial wineries in the U.S. After Prohibition ended, fewer than 100 were left. By 1960, that number had grown to only 271. Today, we’re close to where we started at 2,764.

Recovery was slow but in the 1960s things began to perk up. Americans were being offered new “varietals,” wines named after the grapes they were made from. “I’ll have a glass of white wine” was replaced with “a glass of Chardonnay, please.”

It wasn’t until 1976, though, that American wines earned real respect from the Old World. At the Paris Tasting that year, a California Cabernet and a California Chardonnay beat out a red Bordeaux and a white Burgundy in a blind tasting by a panel of all French judges. The world took notice. Today, all fifty states produce wine. So, how do our states stack up? Here are the top five, plus a few to watch.

California What is California best known for? Okay, most likely Hollywood. But certainly its reputation as Wine Country comes next. California’s climate is perfectly suited to growing grapes and is so consistent from year to year that it’s rarely a problem to get enough sun to ripen the grapes. And those grapes produce nearly 90 percent of all the wine made in the United States. Wines are made from the far reaches of California’s north to the Mexican border in the south. There are scores of distinct wine regions, many of which are known around the world.

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The legal designations for U.S. wine regions are American Viticultural Areas or AVAs. California has nearly 200 of them. If a wine label mentions an AVA – like Napa Valley or Paso Robles – 85% of the grapes in that wine must come from that area.

The Famous North Coast Napa Valley and Sonoma County north of San Francisco are certainly the state’s most celebrated winemaking regions. Tourists by the millions flock there to take advantage of the shopping and restaurants as well as sample the creations of the winemakers. A playground for adults. Although Cabernet is “king” in Napa, the areas are also known for Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel. Mendocino and Lake County are the northernmost wine-producing areas. Winemakers there have planted grapes that aren’t traditionally associated with California – Italian and German varietals like Fiano and Riesling. Zinfandel was once thought to be a native grape of California. Turns out that’s not the case. DNA testing has determined that (1) it’s identical to Italy’s Primitivo grape and (2) they both can be traced to a wild vine that grows on the Adriatic Coat in Croatia.

California’s other main regions include: Central Coast – which stretches from San Francisco to Los Angeles and includes Monterey, Santa Cruz and Livermore in the northern part and San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez in the south. Central Valley – which produces the majority of California’s bulk wine. In the 1980s a bunch of maverick California winemakers got tired of producing the same old varietals. Based on their fondness for the French wines of the Rhone, they began producing their own wines using grape varieties such as Syrah, Viognier and Grenache. They – and now the association they formed – are called the Rhone Rangers.

New York New York is the country’s second-largest wine producing state. Most of New York’s wines come from the Finger Lakes area. With a climate similar to that of Germany, the area is perfect for growing Riesling and Gewürztraminer. Today some of the best U.S. dessert wines come from this region. The area is also home of the popular Seyval Blanc. Recently, Long Island has been the state’s success story. Some people have called the area New York’s Bordeaux because the land and climate of the two wine-producing regions are so similar. Long Island has become best known for its reds, particularly its Merlots and Meritage blends. New York Wines to Unscrew Chardonnay Gewürztraminer Ice Wines Late Harvest Wines Merlot Riesling Seyval Blanc Vidal Blanc

Washington In the 1960s a group of college professors turned their home winemaking operation to a commercial enterprise focusing on premium wines…and Washington’s modern wine industry was born. Today, there are over 600 wineries in the state. 91

The state is divided by the north-south Cascade Mountains. While there are some winegrowing regions in the west, ninety-eight percent of the state’s grapes grow in the east where the land is desert-like: hot, dry summers followed by cold winters. Washington Wines to Unscrew Cabernet Sauvignon Chenin Blanc Merlot Sauvignon Blanc Sémillon Syrah

Oregon Talk about Pinot envy! Oregon’s famous for its two Pinots: Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir. We bet every wine-drinking girl is familiar with Pinot Gris…only in its Italian version, Pinot Grigio. Compared to its counterpart, Oregon Pinot Gris (same grape) is fullerbodied, richer in color with full fruit flavors. The Williamette Valley is the area best known for its Pinot Noirs. It’s at the same latitude as the Burgundy region of France and has a similar climate that’s conducive to growing the finicky Pinot Noir grape. Oregon Wines to Unscrew Pinot Gris Pinot Noir Riesling Chardonnay Merlot

Texas

Texas is one of the oldest wine growing areas in the U.S. The first grapes were planted in the mid-1600s by Franciscan missionaries. The grape? Mission. It’s the same grape that, more than a hundred years later, monk Junipero Serra planted in California, at Mission San Diego. Texas winemakers – like the rest of the Texas population – are fiercely independent. While they produce wines from traditional grapes, they’re not afraid to ferment wines from jalapeños.

Texas Wines to Unscrew Cabernet Sauvignon Chardonnay Chenin Blanc Sauvignon Blanc Sangiovese Syrah Tempranillo Where can I go to taste some Texas wines? We’re so glad you asked. Texas has its share of fun wine festivals. Grapefest, held in September, is the largest wine festival in the Southwest and attracts 250,000 people to Grapevine, Texas. Texas Reds Festival in Bryan, Texas is in October. We know these festivals first-hand because we’ve been featured performers at both.

Virginia Virginia has been growing grapes since colonial times. Thomas Jefferson had two vineyards at his estate, Monticello, where he attempted to grow European grapes. He tried for 30 years. Alas, he never succeeded due to climate issues and lack of technical expertise. He would be proud of the successful wine movement today in Virginia. With almost 200 wineries, the state is on the fast-track to prominence. Virginia Wines to Unscrew Cabernet Franc Cabernet Sauvignon Chardonnay Petit Verdot Viognier

Michigan Sweet wines are a long-tradition in Michigan. They’re often made from grape varieties native to North America such as Concord and Niagara. Michigan is considered one of the top-rated makers of fruit wine, such as wine made from apples, cherries, and cranberries. And the state is the U.S. leader in production of fortified fruit wines or fruit brandy. Ice wine is another Michigan specialty. Since ice wine production requires a hard freeze, Northern Michigan is the ideal location.

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Michigan Wines to Unscrew Cabernet Franc Chardonnay Fruit Wines Gewürztraminer Ice Wines Merlot Riesling

Touring A Winery? Plan To Spit!

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There’s never been a better time to visit a winery. All 50 states have wineries – with almost half of those in California. Nothing beats going to the source to really understand a subject. Or just for a good time. The visit can take a romantic turn – like strolling hand-in-hand through the vines basking in the same sunshine that ripens the grapes or sharing a picnic lunch overlooking the vineyards. Or it can be a thrill when you barrel-taste the winery’s next vintage of Pinot Noir. It reminds us of the first time we rode our bikes without training wheels… Whee! Sometimes I would like a second taste of a wine that I really like. Is it appropriate to ask for a second pour? Under ordinary circumstances, asking for a second taste of one particular wine is inappropriate. However, if you’re sincerely interested in buying the wine, let the pourer know your intentions.

Hire a car or have a designated driver. Even if you’re careful, you’ll probably drink more wine than you expect, so be smart and don’t drive. Expect to pay a tasting fee. The fee is often applied to purchases if you buy anything. And if it turns out to be free, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Be selective about the wines you taste instead of trying them all. You and your friends can sample different wines and compare notes. Use the dump bucket. You don’t have to polish off all the wine you’re served. Your senses become numbed as your taste more wine. Here, it’s okay to spit! You’re under no obligation to buy a bottle of wine at a tasting room. However, if you like a wine and you’re at a small production winery, by all means buy it there. It could be difficult – or impossible – to find it later at your retail store back home.

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Ask questions. This is the best time to learn about wines. Most winery personnel are trained to provide information and enjoy talking about their wines and region. Drink lots of water. It mitigates the dehydrating effects of the alcohol. Eat. Start with a good breakfast. Take a picnic lunch or snack along the way. Drink only the winery’s wine. If you plan to picnic at a winery, always drink that winery’s wine. They have welcomed you into their “house” and onto their property. It’s rude and tacky to take up their picnic space while sipping someone else’s wine. Keep the kids under control. If you plan to bring your children along for your wine tasting trip, have planned activities for them while you’re tasting. Take notes. You might think you’ll remember your first favorite wine, but by late in the day it’ll be a foggy memory.

Of course, there’s always the temptation to treat a winery outing like a giant cocktail party. Woohoo…so much wine, so little time! Just line ‘em up. If you’re planning a whole day of tasting room stops, your trip will benefit from some planning – and some discipline. Here are our rules-of-the-road to help your enjoy your tour, plus keep your wits about you during your travels. • •

Plan ahead. If you want to visit several wineries in a single day, it’s best to find ones that are open to the public on the day you are visiting. Many maps and winery guides are available online. Don’t be too ambitious. Plan to visit no more than five wineries in one day. You’ll want to take the time to wander, talk to the winery operators and enjoy the tastings. 94

14 Pop Pop Fizz Fizz… Champagne & Sparkling Wine Go Head-to-Head Ah, Champagne, nectar of the gods. With you we have rung in memorable New Years, blown out countless birthday candles, toasted our best friends, cursed our enemies, grieved for loved ones, consummated business deals, sung songs to whomever would listen, made the most passionate love of our lives, swung on swings and danced until dawn. So, is champagne the special occasion accompaniment to life events? It’s something special, all right. But we think Champagne is an every occasion partner, with us at every milestone of our lives. Champagne, sparkling wine, bubbly – whatever you call it – is the life of every party. Why? One taste will tell you.

Champagne vs. Sparkling Wine Raise your hand if you can tell the difference between Champagne and a quality sparkling wine. In a blind test, we doubt most people could. Even some experienced tasters. But there’s one important distinction: Champagne comes from the Champagne region of France. Everything else is sparkling wine.

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Bubbles are the essence of sparkling wines and will reveal whether you’re drinking a high quality sparkler or a cheap copy. Pour a glass and look for yourself. In fine Champagne the bubbles will be tiny and float upward in a continuous stream from the bottom of your glass. If they’re large and random, you might have a lesser-quality bubbly.

In Spain they call it cava. In Germany it’s sekt. In Italy they’ve got Prosecco, Asti and Franciacorta. In the United States, with a few exceptions, it’s called sparkling wine. Even French winemakers from neighboring regions can’t call their sparkling wines Champagne. They have to label them Crémant or Mousseux.

Why Is Champagne So Expensive? The Champagne name – like lots of designer brands – has developed a reputation for top quality. It’s made according to some of the strictest standards and production methods in the wine world. Producers there developed a winemaking process called Méthode Champenoise that’s both time consuming and labor-intensive. That’s one reason, in addition to the brand’s cachet, the wines can be so expensive. You may have noticed that some American sparkling wines are, indeed, labeled Champagne. But the term is accompanied by a modifier, like California, to disclose where it’s actually made. That’s the result of a trade agreement between the U.S. and the European Union in 2006 that allowed certain American producers to be “grandfathered” in and continue to use the term.

The rules governing Champagne production are strict and comprehensive – starting with what grapes can be used. Only Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. When it’s time to harvest those grapes, they have to be picked by hand. Even after the grapes are made into Champagne, the wines have to be aged for a minimum amount of time before they can be released.

Bottles are rotated from a horizontal position to a vertical, upside-down one – a process, known as riddling – causing sediment from fermentation to collect in the neck. Next up: disgorgement. The neck of the bottle is frozen so that the sediment becomes a solid plug. The winemaker skillfully turns the bottle upright while removing the cap in one motion, and the yeast sediment flies out of the bottle while retaining the sparkling wine. Finally…a little sugar is added (called dosage). The amount of sugar depends on the degree of dryness or sweetness the producer wants to obtain. And corks are squished into the bottle, creating their classic mushroom shape. Now does that sound too tough? How can I tell if a bottle of sparkling wine is made using the Champagne Method? Labels used to plainly say Méthode Champenoise or Champagne Method, but no more. Champagne producers didn’t want anyone to even breathe the word Champagne in the same room as other bubblies. Look for Méthode Traditionelle or Traditional Method on the label instead.

Making The Bubbles: Méthode Champenoise

Champagne Houses

The process starts by making still wines. Yes, plural. The winemaker will make these wines for mixing together later.

If you can believe the tabloids, Christina Aguilera drinks Veuve Clicquot, Victoria Beckham sips Armand de Brignac and Britney Spears guzzles Louis Roederer Cristal. Famous names all…the celebs AND their Champagnes.

Now the wines are blended. This is the winemaker’s secret recipe…her cuvée. Blending is considered to be the key in creating the flavor and quality of the eventual Champagne. Next come the bubbles. The cuvée is put into bottles, sugar and yeast are added and the bottles are capped. And that’s when the magic happens! The wines ferment again. The yeast “eats” the sugar and produces carbon dioxide. Yes, the bubbles are trapped. It’s now time for aging. Fifteen months for non-vintage Champagne and at least 3 years – and usually longer – for vintage Champagne. Fermentation inside the bottle produces dead yeast particles as sediment. Yuck! Someone had to figure a way to get it out. That person was Madame Clicquot, a young widow who ran her husband’s Champagne house after his untimely death in 1805. She had her house carpenter cut a series of holes in her dining room table so that the bottles could be positioned upside down at 45 degree angles. After several weeks of turning and re-angling the bottles, all the sediment collected at the neck and could be easily removed.

Champagnes are named for the “houses” that produce them. There are over 300 of them in the Champagne region. The houses, in turn, produce various brands of Champagne – known as marques. The biggest and most famous houses are known as the Grandes Marques – literally “big brands.” These are some of the names you may be – or should be – familiar with. Billecart-Salmon Bollinger Charles Heidsieck Deutz & Geldermann G. H. Mumm Krug Lanson Père et Files Louis Roederer Moët et Chandon

Perrier-Jouët Piper-Heidsieck Pol Roger Pommery & Greno Ruinart Taittinger Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin

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If you see a date on a bottle of Champagne, it’s a vintage Champagne. If there’s no date at all, it’s non-vintage. When you peruse a restaurant wine list, you’ll likely see “NV” as the designation for non-vintage Champagne.

It’s All A Matter Of Style Every Champagne house, large or small, works tirelessly to create its own style. That becomes their signature. One element of style is the wine’s sweetness level. The designations of sweetness are indicated right on the bottle’s label. Extra Brut – The driest of all and not a common style. Brut – The most common and popular style. It’s considered very dry. Extra Dry – A slightly less dry style than Brut, considered to be medium dry. Sec – Medium dry to medium sweet. Demi-Sec – Sweet and great with desserts – or as dessert itself. Doux – Extremely sweet. Some Champagnes are made from just one of the three permitted grapes. A blanc de blanc (meaning white wine from white grapes) is made entirely from Chardonnay grapes and is lighter than Champagnes that also include Pinot Noir. Blanc de noir (white wine from black grapes) is made exclusively from Pinot Noir. Both can be vintage or non-vintage.

It Was A Vintage Year! Champagne is designated as vintage or non-vintage. A vintage Champagne uses 100 percent of its grapes from a single year’s crop. It’s not made every year – only the years when conditions produce the very best grapes. Conditions like hot or cold weather during the growing season will affect the grapes – so vintage Champagne may taste quite different from one designated year to the next. Most producers will age their Champagnes for five to seven years before release. Non-vintage Champagne – which accounts for about 80 percent of the Champagne produced – is a blend of wines from several vintages. Champagne houses use this technique to create their own distinctive styles that can be re-created year after year for consistency in taste. Non-vintage Champagne is sold ready to drink but may maintain its integrity for up to three years.

What does pink Champagne taste like? Not much different than other Champagnes. Usually dry. The term rosé Champagne is more commonly used these days. The pink color comes from leaving the grape skins in contact with the juice for a brief period during fermentation. Alternatively, the color can be achieved by adding some red Pinot Noir wine to the base wines blend.

Money Can Buy Prestige You may have heard the names Dom Perignon, Cristal, Cuvée Femme and La Grande Dame. They’re examples of “prestige cuvées” – luxury Champagnes that are considered to be the best of the best. The best grapes from the best vineyards in the best years. Expensive. And did we mention expensive? While American celebrities are often associated with one or another of the prestige cuvées, it’s the wealthy Russians and Chinese, we hear, who are buying them up… and driving up their prices as well. Are they worth the money? Only you can make that judgment.

The Little Guys While a few of the big Champagne houses have substantial vineyard land, they still buy most of their grapes from the 15,000-plus small growers in the Champagne region, who collectively own about 90 percent of the vineyards. The small growers, who rarely own more than five acres apiece, have started making – and exporting – their own Champagnes that can compete in taste with the wines of the big guys.

Screw To recognize a grower Champagne in the wine store, look at the lower right-hand Tip

corner of the bottle’s front label. Look for the letters “RM” (Récoltant-Manipulant) or “SR” (Societe de Récoltants).

Because their vineyards are so small, their Champagnes incorporate the character of the land – as opposed to the large houses that can use grapes from as many as 1,000 different sites. And because small growers’ advertising budgets are as small as their land holdings, you’ve probably not heard their names. But they offer high quality at value prices.

And Then There’s The Rest Of The Sparkling World Even the wealthiest socialites wear costume jewelry on occasion. And it’s no less beautiful because it costs less. Just because a sparkling wine comes from outside the Champagne

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region doesn’t mean it can’t have an exquisite taste. Bubblies are made all over the world. Here are some to look for. France Crémant is the mostly widely used term for French bubblies outside of Champagne. Crémant de Loire is made from Chenin Blanc grapes that produce a floral aroma. Crémant d’Alsace has a crisp taste and can be a blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris. You’ll also find Crémant de Bourgogne from Burgundy and Crémant de Bordeaux. All are made in the traditional method. A cheaper way to make sparkling wines is with the Charmat method – also known as bulk method, tank method and cuve close. The second fermentation takes place in large, closed, pressurized tanks instead of in the bottle. A lot of wine can be produced quickly and be ready to drink not long after harvest.

United States Sparkling wine has been an integral part of wine making since before the Civil War when French Champagne makers were recruited to New York State by local wineries there. Fast forward to the 1970s. Several French Champagne houses started up operations in California and produced their sparklers using the same grape varieties as they do back home – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The American branches of the Champagne houses include: Domaine Carneros (owned by Taittinger) Domaine Chandon (owned by Moët et Chandon) Mumm Cuvée Napa (owned by G. H. Mumm) Piper-Sonoma (owned by Piper-Heidsieck) Roederer Estate (owned by Louis Roederer)

Pop Pop Fizz Fizz Italy Oh, so much to choose from…starting with Prosecco, which has really hit the big time with Americans. It’s produced from the grape of the same name in the Veneto region using the Charmat method. If you’ve tasted a Prosecco, you know that it has a delicate aroma and flavor. The lightly sparkling (frizzante) examples may be corked like a still wine. The fully sparkling wines (spumante) have a cork and wire cage like Champagne. Franciacorta is said to be Italy’s closest rival to Champagne. It’s from the Lombardy region and made from Chardonnay, Pinot Nero and Pinot Bianco. Asti is made from the Muscat grape and is famous as a semi-sweet to sweet fully sparkling wine. Asti’s cousin is Moscato d’Asti, which is only lightly sparkling. Does anyone ever make red sparkling wine? Sparkling reds are really making it big. Lambrusco from Italy developed a reputation in the U.S. back in the 1980s as sweet and cloying, but an authentic Lambrusco from the Emilia-Romagna region will likely be dry and fresh. Sparkling Shiraz from Australia is dry, rich and earthy.

Spain Spanish bubbly is called Cava – the Catalon word for “cellar,” referring to the underground cellars where the wines are aged. Cavas are made in the traditional method using primarily the indigenous grapes Macabeo, Xarel-Lo and Parellada. Some producers also include Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. 102

A girl could get injured by a flying cork if she’s not careful opening a bottle of bubbly. The trick is to chill the Champagne and turn the bottle instead of pulling the cork. Here are the few simple steps… 1. Make sure the bottle is cold. Too warm and the wine will foam and overflow when you uncork it. 2. Grab a towel that you’ll use in just a minute. 3. Remove the foil so that the wire cage is exposed. 4. Untwist the wire (It’ll take exactly six turns.) and remove the cage. 5. With the bottle upright and towel in hand, get a good grip on the cork and maintain downward pressure. 6. With your free hand slowly turn the bottle until the cork gently pops out with the sound of a “sigh.” There! You’ve preserved the bubbles and kept all your friends safe. Soap and sparkling wine don’t mix. Soap residue in Champagne flutes will cause the bubbly to foam when it’s poured without dissipating. And it can affect the taste. So wash the glasses with water and no soap. Or if you do use soap, make sure the glassware is thoroughly rinsed.

Leftover Bubbly Leftover Champagne? What’s that? We have to admit that, on occasion, even we can’t finish a whole bottle. There are ways to store the bubbly so you can enjoy it again the 103

next day. It will usually keep, sealed, for about 24 hours. A Champagne bottle stopper is the best way to maintain the bubbles. It’s made of metal with a spring and special lip to grab the rim of the bottle. In a pinch you can put a couple layers of plastic wrap over the opening and secure it with a rubber band. But, no matter what else you do, put it in the refrigerator. Sometimes you can get lucky, and the bubbles will survive even without the bottle being closed.

15 How Sweet It Is… Dessert Wines Hit The Spot When the dessert menu comes around, all we can think about are the inches about to be added to our hips. Who can turn down just a forkful of New York cheesecake or a spoonful of Rocky Road? We used to fool ourselves into thinking it would be only one bite – but, of course, it never was. So instead of even a single cake pop, we choose to satisfy our sweet tooth with dessert wines. Talk about sweet! Because they’re so rich, dessert wines are served in little glasses – typically two to three ounces a serving. They come in smaller bottles too – about half the size of a regular table wine. And get ready for sticker shock. They carry a high price tag. Do dessert wines have more calories than regular table wines? You bet they do! A three-ounce pour of dessert wine has 130 calories compared to 60 calories in the same amount of white wine. But remember, this is dessert. Compared to a whopping 500 calories in one slice of Original Cheesecake Factory cheesecake, we’ll take the dessert wine. Besides, there’s no buzz in cheesecake.

There’s Lots Of Diversity In Dessert Wines Late Harvest Wines You probably already figured out that these wines are made from grapes picked late in the harvest season. The extra ripening time – which can be weeks – adds lots of sugar to the grapes. That sugar can translate into a wine that’s sweet or high in alcohol or both. Late harvest wines are known for their rich, honeyed flavors. The most popular grapes used to make them are Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon. Ice Wines Ice wine – or eiswein as they say in Germany where it originated – is made from grapes that are allowed to get very ripe and then freeze on the vine. The grapes are harvested and pressed while they’re still frozen. The water in the grapes does not pass through the press but stays behind in the form of ice pellets. The result is an extremely concentrated sweet juice. 104

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Waiting for the freeze can be risky business. If the temperatures are too warm and the grapes don’t freeze, a grower could lose the entire crop. The process is also labor-intensive. Harvesting takes place by hand in the early morning hours when acidity levels are at the highest. No wonder the wines are so expensive.

wine. This stops the fermentation process while the wine has plenty of sweetness and boosts the alcohol level.

Ice wines are produced in areas that get cold enough for the grapes to freeze – like Germany, Austria, Canada and northern U.S. states. Obviously, climate is a major factor in how ice wines are produced. Except when a producer artificially freezes them instead. Then, of course, they can be produced anywhere. The most common grapes used for ice wines are Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, and Sémillon.

Vintage Port is made from grapes of a single vintage. It spends two years in wood and is then bottled for at least 20 years or as long as 50. If it was bottled unfiltered, it requires decanting upon opening to remove sediment.

“Noble Rot” Wines We’re sure you’ve never heard anyone ask for a glass of Noble Rot, but you may have already tasted a nobly rotten wine. Noble Rot is the nickname for Botrytis cinerea, a beneficial mold that causes grapes to shrivel, leaving sugar-laden fruit full of rich, concentrated flavors. Three countries are historically known for these dessert wines. France Sauternes, named after the appellation that produces it, is world famous. The dominant grape is Sémillon and generally includes Sauvignon Blanc in the final blend. Germany Beerenauslese is the term for wines that have a little noble rot action. Those Germans have a way with words. These wines are called “BA” for short. They’re made from Riesling grapes. Trockenbeerenauslese (“TBA” for short) has even more drying effect of noble rot. Most of these wines are made from Riesling, but Gewürztraminer and Chardonnay grapes are occasionally used. TBA wines are exceptionally rare and extremely expensive – and are considered to be one of the world’s premiere dessert wines. Hungary Tokay, also known as Tokaji, comes from around the Hungarian town of Tokay. They’re made primarily from Furmint grapes. Tokay is mentioned in the national anthem of Hungary. “On Tokaj’s vine stalks you have dripped nectar.” Port Port is a sweet fortified wine which originated in Portugal’s Douro Valley. The best Ports still come from that area today, although Australia, South Africa, Canada and the U.S. make wines in the Port style. Port is made by adding brandy or another neutral spirit to 106

There are four basic categories of Port.

Tawny Port is made from a blend of grapes from different years and aged in wood for as long as 40 years. Tawny Ports will often be categorized by age, which appears as “10,” “20,” “30,” or “40” year old on the label. Ruby Port is made from lower-quality batches of wine and is one of the least expensive Ports. It’s bottled while it’s still young – with only two to three years in wood. White Port is produced just like red Port except it’s made from white grapes such as Malvasia, Verdelho and Viosinho. Producers sometimes make a drier style by lengthening the fermentation period. Port is at the center of much tradition, including the “laying down of Port” for a child, when a father or godfather buys a few cases of Port at the child’s birth that will be drinkable years later. Starting at the age of 21, the now-matured child can enjoy the mature Port, and can continue doing so throughout her life.

Sherry Sherry is often thought of as a cooking wine, but don’t let this gem fool you. It’s often underrated and misunderstood. And it’s now a trendy alternative to table wine. Americans are rediscovering what the Spanish have always known – sherry is a delightful, complex wine that goes well with party foods. Sherry is produced in the Jerex region of Spain from three main grapes: Palomino, Pedro Jimenex, and Moscatel. They are made either dry or sweet. Dry sherries include: Fino, Manzanilla, Manzanilla Pasada, Oloroso and Palo Cortado. Sweet sherries include: Pale Cream, Medium Sherry, Cream Sherry, and Brown Sherry.

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We recommend you put your opened bottles of dessert wines in the refrigerator. While all dessert wines don’t need refrigeration, the cold will help retard the aging and keep it fresher. And always reseal the bottle with the cork or screwtop.

Madeira Madeira comes from the Madeira Islands of Portugal. Like sherry, its style ranges from dry to sweet. There are three grades of Madeira: Reserve (five years or older), Special Reserve (10 years or older), and Extra Reserve (15 years or older). The different styles of Madeira are named after the grapes they’re made from: Sercial – the driest style, tangy with high acidity Verdelho – medium-dry with nutty flavor Bual – rich, medium-sweet with raisin flavor Malvasia – sweet and concentrated.

Dessert Wine Pairings The generous hostess always considers her guests’ appetites and desires as well as her own. A liquid dessert may be your definition of heaven, but your guests might be longing for something sinfully solid. And so we offer these dessert wine pairings.

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When matching dessert wine to food, the wine should be sweeter than the dessert it accompanies. Otherwise, the wine will taste bitter after you take a bite of dessert.

Dessert Wine

Dessert

Late Harvest Wines

Apple Pie Peach-Based Desserts Caramel Sweets Foie Gras Blue Cheese Bread Pudding

Ice Wines

Apple Fritters Apricot-Based Desserts Paté Muenster Cheese 108

Noble Rot Wines

Strawberries Pear Tart Raspberry Cheesecake Butter Cookies Crème Brulee Blue or Stilton Cheese

Port

Stilton Cheese Almond Tart Chocolate Cake Caramel Soufflé

Sherry Manchego Cheese Almonds Praline Dessert Madeira Coffee Cake Pecan Tart Cannoli Do I need special glasses for serving dessert wine? A special glass isn’t mandatory, but it’s good to use a small wine glass. If you can afford to splurge, specialized glasses are available. The glass for Port and Sherry is called a Copita.

Chocolate And Wine – A Decadent Match Finding wines to go with chocolate desserts can be a challenge because it’s hard to find a table wine that’s richer and sweeter than chocolate. However, we’ve put all these wines to the test – or taste – and matched them with different types of chocolate. Chocolate Style

Wine

Bittersweet Chocolate (70% - 100% cacao)

Bordeaux Cabernet Sauvignon Grenache Malbec Merlot Port Shiraz Zinfandel 109

Semisweet Chocolate Dark Chocolate (59% - 69% cacao)

Beaujolais Cabernet Sauvignon Ice Wines Late Harvest Wines Muscat Port Zinfandel

Milk Chocolate

Ice Wines Gewürztraminer Late Harvest Wines Muscat Port Riesling Sparkling Wine

White Chocolate

Gewürztraminer Muscat Riesling Sherry Sparkling Wine

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pro·nun·ci·a·tion Pronunciation Guide Albariño Alsace Amarone Asti Auslese Banyuls Barbaresco Barbera d’Alba Barbera d’Asti Bardolino Barolo Beaujolais Beerenauslese Blanc de blanc Blanc de noir Blauburgunder Blaufränkisch Bollinger Bordeaux Botrytis cincerea Bourgogne Brouilly Brunello di Montalcino Brut Cabernet Franc Cabernet Sauvignon Campania Carmenère Carneros Cava Chablis Champagne

ahl-bah-REE-nyoh ahl-SASS ah-mah-ROH-neh AH-stee OWS-lay-zuh bah-NYUHLS bar-bah-RESS-koh bar-BEHR-ah DAHL-bah bar-BEHR-ah DAH-stee bar-doh-LEE-noh bar-ROH-loh boh-zhuh-LAY BAY-ruhn-OWS-lay-zuh BLAHNGK duh BLAHNGK BLAHNGK duh NWAHR BLOW-ber-guhn-der blow-FREHN-kish BOHL-in-jer bor-DOE boh-TRI-tihs sihn-EHR-ee-uh boor-GON-yuh broo-YEE broo-NELL-oh dee mawn-tahl-CHEE-noh BROOT ka-behr-NAY-FRAHNK ka-behr-NAY SAW-vee-nyohn kahm-PAH-nyah kahr-meh-NEHR kahr-NEH-rohs KAH-vah shah-BLEE sham-PAYN 111

Chardonnay Charles Heidsieck Château Lafite-Rothschild Château Lagrange Château Latour Château Margeaux Château Mouton-Rothschild Château Petrus Châteauneuf-du-Pape Chenin Blanc Chianti Chinon Cinsault Clos de Vougeot Cognac Colheita Condrieu Copita Corton-Charlemagne Côte d’Or Côte de Beaune Côte de Nuit Côte-Rôtie Côtes du Rhone Crianza Cuvée Deutz & Geldermann Dolcetto Dosage Douro Doux Eiswein Enology Enophile Frizzante Fumé Blanc Gamay Gavi

shar-doh-NAY CHAHRLZ HIDE-sik sha-TOH lah-FEET-rawt-SHEELD sha-TOH la-GRAHNZh sha-TOH lah-TOOR sha-TOH mahr-GOH sha-TOH moo-TAWN-rawt-SHEELD sha-TOH pay-TROOS sha-toh-nuhf-doo-PAHP shen-in BLAHNGK kee-AHN-tee shee-NOHN SAN-soh kloh duh voo-ZHOH KOHN-yak kuhl-YAY-tah kawn-DREE-yuh koh-PEE-tah kor-TAWN-shahr-luh-MAHN-yuh koht DOR koht duh BOHN koht duh NWEE koht roh-TEE koht duh ROHN kree-AHN-zah koo-VAY DOYTZ et GELT-er-mahn dohl-CHEHT-oh doh-SAHJ DOO-roh DOO ICE-vine ee-NAHL-uh-jee EE-nuh-file freet-SAHN-teh FOO-may BLAHNGK ga-MAY GA-vee 112

Gewürztraminer Grand cru classé Graves Grenache Grüner Veltliner Halbtrocken Hermitage Heurige Kabinett Krug Lambrusco Languedoc-Roussillon Loire Mâcon Village Madeira Malbec Medoc Meritage Merlot Méthode Champenoise Meunier Meursault Mis en Bouteille Moët & Chandon Mosel Mourvèdre G. H. Mumm Muscadet Muscadine Muscat Nebbiolo Nouveau Orvieto Pauillac Penedès Perrier-Jouët Petit Verdot Petite Sirah

guh-VURTS-trah-mee-ner grahn kroo klah-SAY GRAHV gruh-NAHSH GROO-ner FELT-lee-ner HAHLP-troe-ken er-mee-TAHJ HOY-rih-guh kah-bih-NEHT KROOG lam-BROO-skoh lahn-geh-DAWK roo-see-YON l-WAHR mah-KAWN vee-LAHJ muh-DEER-uh mahl-BEHK may-DAWK MEHR-ih-tihj mehr-LOH may-TOHD shahm-peh-NWAHZ muh-NYAY mehr-SOH mee zahn boo-THE-yuh moh-EHT ay shahn-DAWN MOH-zuhl moor-VEH-druh GHAY ASH MUMM meuhs-kah-DAY MUHS-kuh-dihn MUHS-kat neh-BYOH-loh noo-VOH ohr-VYAY-toh poh-YAK pay-NAY-dahs pehr-YAY-zhoo-AY peh-TEET vehr-DOH peh-TEET sih-RAH 113

Picpoul Pinot Blanc Pinot Grigio Pinot Gris Pinot Noir Pinotage Piper-Heidsieck Pol Roger Pomerol Pommard Pouilly-Fuissé Pouilly-Fumé Premier cru Primitivo Prosecco Quinta Riesling Rioja Riserva Ruinart Sancerre Sangiovese Sauternes Sauvignon Blanc Sec Sekt Sémillon Shiraz Soave Sommelier Spätlese Spumante Syrah Taittinger Tastevin Tavel Tempranillo Terroir

PEEK-pool PEE-noh BLAHNGK PEE-noh GREE-zhoh PEE-noh GREE PEE-noh NWAHR PEE-noh-TAHJ PIPE-er-HIDE-sehk PAWL roh-ZHAY paw-muh-RAWL paw-MAHR poo-yee-fwee-SAY poo-yee-few-MAY preh-MYAY KROO pree-mee-TEE-voh praw-SEH-koh KEEN-tah REEZ-ling ree-OH-hah ree-ZEHR-vah rwee-NAHR sahn-SEHR san-joh-VAY-zeh soh-TEHRN SAW-vee-nyohn BLAHNGK SEHK ZEHKT seh-mee-YAWN shee-RAHZ SWAH-veh saw-muhl-YAY SHPAYT-lay-zuh spoo-MAHN-tay see-RAH taht-teen-ZHEHR taht-VAHN ta-VEHL tem-prah-NEE-yuh tehr-WAHR 114

Tinto Tokay Trocken Trockenbeerenauslese Valpolicella Verdelho Verdicchio Veuve Cliquot-Ponsardin Vin de pays Vinho Verde Vinifera Viognier Vouvray Weissburgunder Zinfandel

TEEN-toh toh-KAY TROH-kuhn TROH-kuhn-bay-ruhn-OWS-lay-zuh vahl-paw-lee-CHEHL-lah vehr-DEHL-yoh vehr-DEEK-yoh vurv klee-KOH pawn-sahr-DAN van duh pay-YEE VEEN-yoh VEHR-deh vihn-IF-uh-ruh vee-oh-NYAY voo-VRAY VISE-ber-guhn-der ZIHN-fuhn-dehl

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Wine Dictionary Acidity. Naturally occurring acids in grapes that are vital components for the life, vitality and balance of all wines. Aging. Maturing process of a wine to improve the taste. Alcohol. The major component in wine. Also known as ethyl alcohol. Appellation. The location of a designated growing area governed by the regulations of its federal government and local governing body. Rules vary from country to country. Aroma. The smell of a wine. Astringent. The puckering sensation in the mouth attributable to the tannins and acids found in some wines. Austere. A tasting term that is used to describe young wines that have not yet developed a discernible aroma. AVA. American Viticultural Area; a designated American wine region approved by the Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau in the Department of the Treasury. Balance. A tasting term that describes how well a wineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s components complement each other. Barrel. A container used to store or ferment wine. Barrel Aged. Wines that are fermented in containers such as stainless steel, and then placed into wooden barrels for maturation. It may also refer to wines that are both fermented and aged in the barrel. Beaujolais. A juicy, flavorful red wine made from Gamay grapes grown in the Burgundy region of France. Beaujolais Nouveau. The first Beaujolais wine of the harvest; its annual release date is the third Thursday in November. Big. A tasting term to describe wines that are full of flavor and with high levels of tannins, alcohol and grape extracts. 116

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Bite. A result of good levels of acidity (especially in young wines).

Clean. Wines that are straightforward and have no unpleasant odors or flavors.

Bitter. Unpleasant taste that registers at the back of the tongue.

Cloudy. Opposite of clarity. Wine that is visually unclear.

Blanc de Blanc. A white wine – most often sparkling – made exclusively from white grapes.

Complex. Nuances of flavors of a wine often achieved with aging.

Blanc de Noir. A white or slightly tinted wine – usually sparkling – made exclusively from red grapes.

Cork. The spongy material from the bark of the cork tree used to seal wine bottles. Corked. Wine that has the smell of wood “dry-rot” resulting from a defective cork.

Blend. The technique of mixing wines of different varieties, regions, barrels or vintages.

Crisp. Good acidity and taste without excessive sweetness.

Body. Perception of fullness or texture in the mouth due primarily to the wine’s alcohol.

Cru. French term meaning “growth.”

Bordeaux. A region in southwest France considered the world’s greatest wine producing region because of the high quality wines. Approved red wine grapes are Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenére, Gros Verdot, Malbec, Merlot, Petit Verdot and St. Macaire. Approved white wines are Muscadelle, Sauvignon Blanc, and Sémillon.

Cuvée. Blend. In the production of Champagne, cuvée is the specific blend of still wines used as a base for Champagne. Decanting. Pouring wine from the bottle to a carafe or decanter either to remove sediment from the bottle or to let the wine breathe.

Bottle Aging. Allowing wine to acquire complexity, depth and texture in the bottle.

Depth. Full-bodied, intense and complex flavors.

Bouquet. The combination of flowery and fruity aromas that come from the alcohols and acids in a wine.

Disgorging. Removing sediment from a bottle of Champagne following secondary fermentation.

Breathe. Allow air to mix with a wine to develop its flavor.

Domaine. A French term for a wine estate or property.

Brut. Dry style of Champagne and sparkling wine.

Dry. Opposite of sweet. All the sugar from the grapes has been converted to alcohol during fermentation.

Burgundy. A prominent French wine region stretching from Chablis in the north to Lyons in the south; Pinot Noir is the grape for red Burgundy, Chardonnay for white. Capsule. The protective cover of tin, lead, aluminum or plastic placed over the top of a bottle of wine used to insulate the wine from outside influences. Cava. The Spanish term for sparkling wines made using the traditional champagne method. Champagne. A denominated region northeast of Paris in which Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes are made into sparkling wine. Also the name of sparkling wine which is made by the méthode champenoise. Character. A wine’s features and style, which include aroma, flavor, color, and body. Clarity. The appearance of wine that has no cloudiness. 118

Earthy. Flavors derived from the soil where the grapes have been grown. Enology. The study of wine and winemaking. Also oenology. Extra Dry. Classification for Champagne that has a slight perception of sweetness. Fat. A big, soft and silky wine that fills the mouth. Fermentation. The process that turns grape juice into wine. The enzymes in the yeast convert sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Fining. A process that removes impurities in the wine before bottling. Finish. The aftertaste or impression a wine leaves after it’s swallowed. 119

Fortified Wine. The addition of brandy or neutral spirits to wine in order to boost its alcohol content.

Old World. A collective term used for European winemaking countries.

Frizzante. The Italian word for slightly sparkling wine.

Organic. Grapes grown without the aid of chemical-based fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides.

Fruity. The flavor or aroma of fruits in wine.

Oxidation. Exposure of wine to air, which causes chemical changes and deterioration.

Hard. Having an abundance of tannin or acidity.

Pigeage. The French word for the traditional stomping of grapes by foot.

Ice Wine. Extremely sweet wines made from grapes that have been frozen on the vines prior to harvest. Also called Eiswein.

Press. The piece of equipment used to gently separate grape juice from grape skins.

Late Harvest Wine. Wine made from ripe grapes left on the vine for periods in excess of their normal picking times, resulting in an extreme concentration of sugar. Lees. The sediment of yeasts and small grape particles that settle in the barrel as wine develops. Legs. A term used to describe how wine sticks to the inside of a wine glass after drinking or swirling. Also called tears. Usually associated with a full-bodied wine. Length. A characteristic of fine wines. The amount of time the sensations of taste and aroma persist after swallowing. Maceration. Technique of fermenting uncrushed grapes under pressure to produce fresh, fruity wine. Magnum. A bottle holding 1.5 liters or the equivalent of two standard bottles. Meritage. Name used for both red and white American wines that are produced by blending traditional Bordeaux grape varietals. New World. Collective term for those winemaking countries outside of Europe. Noble Rot. Nickname for a fungus that attacks ripe grapes in certain areas, resulting in higher sugar content and finer sweet wines.

Punt. The indentation at the base of a wine or Champagne bottle, which reinforces the bottle’s structure. Racking. The process of moving wine from barrel to barrel, while leaving sediment behind, for the purpose of clarifying it. Reserve. A term without a legal definition in the United States but often used to designative a special wine. In other counties, the term has very specific meanings. Rich. Having well-balanced flavors. Riddling. The process of rotating Champagne bottles in order to shift sediment toward the cork. Screwtop. A closure used for sealing wine bottles as an alternative to the cork. Also known as a Stelvin closure and screw cap. Sec. A term, when applied to Champagne that describes a relatively sweet wine. Used in the context of still wines, the term means “dry” – without any residual sugar. Secondary Fermentation. The process of converting still wine into Champagne that takes place in the bottle. Still wine. A wine that contains no carbon dioxide.

Nose. Bouquet; the sum of a wine’s aromas.

Sommelier. French word for “wine steward.” The person is required to have extensive knowledge of wines and food pairings.

Nutty. A fine, crisp flavor often found in Sherries and fine white wines.

Spumante. The Italian word for fully sparkling wines.

Oak. The flavor imparted to wine by barrel aging. It can be best described as a toasty or woodlike flavor. Sometimes a vanilla flavor will be imparted by fine oak.

Tannin. Substance responsible for the astringent quality found in wine, especially red wines. Tannins form the basis for the long life of wines, and while they can be overpowering in some wines, with bottle aging they tend to become softer.

Off Dry. A general term used to describe wines that have a slight perception of sweetness. 120

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Terroir. Literally, the “soil,” the French term for the particular character (aromas and flavors) of a given vineyard, or even a small part of that vineyard. Thin. Lacking fullness, depth, complexity.

Index

Varietal. A wine named after the grape from which it is produced. In California, for instance, a wine labeled “Pinot Noir” must by law consist of at least 75 percent Pinot Noir grapes. Vinification. The process of making wine. Vineyard. The place where grapes are grown. Vintage. The year that the grapes were harvested and made into the wine. Viticulture. The practice (art, science and philosophy) of growing grape vines. Woody. In most wines this is an undesirable condition indicating that there is a taint of some type from defective wood or an overuse of new oak. Yeast. Naturally occurring, single-celled organisms found on the skins of grapes that are primary promoters of fermentation. In the fermentation process, yeast turns sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

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The Saucy Sisters... Barbara and Beverly The Saucy Sisters, Barbara Wichman Nowak and Beverly Wichman Pittman, are siblings, best friends, frequent dining partners…and barstool companions. Whether it’s in front of a camera, behind a microphone or before live groups, they bring their sense of humor and food and beverage knowledge to audiences nationwide. They perform at mega-gatherings like wine and food festivals, for corporate meetings, and in classrooms to train wine lovers of all kinds. While audiences love the sisters for their banter and everywoman perspective, they’re equally respected as authors. Their previous books include The Saucy Sisters’ Guide To Wine - What Every Girl Should Know Before She Uncorks, The Everything Wine Book, Best Places to Eat in Nashville and Cook It Right. Barbara and Beverly are media personalities. For ten years, they were the hosts, creators and executive producers of the radio show, Sauced! They appear regularly on radio and television giving their colorful opinions about wine. In addition to their work as a team, Barbara was a food columnist for Gannett’s The Tennessean and for four seasons hosted regular cooking segments on HGTV’s Today At Home. Beverly is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources and has worked for major U.S. corporations and government institutions including the CIA. Not the Culinary Institute of America. Barbara and Beverly are available for group events and can be contacted at Saucies@ SaucySisters.com and 615-807-1743.

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